Angels and Vampires
by hersheysmusicandtwilight
Summary: What happens when the imprints start mysteriously disappearing? What caused it? How will the werewolves cope? And more importantly, who was Cocoa making out with in Cathryn's closet?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey Everybody! This is my second fanfiction. My first is called Waking Up, and this is a sequal to that one, but you don't need to have read it to read this one. I hope you like this-and Waking Up, please read it and reveiw even though it isn't nessicary if you're like, for some reason totally against reading it. REVEIW PLEEEEEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Epolougue

Neutral POV

Just outside of Seattle, in a an old antique shop that had run out of bussess, there stood twelve adults in a circle. Most people would find these adults rather odd. You see, none of them looked anything alike. There were redheads, brunettes, blondes, and peopl with raven hair. There were tall people, short people, thin people, large people. And yet…they were all exactly the same. They all had the same snow white skin. The same unique burgandy colored eyes. The same grace about them. And they were all unbeleivably, spellbindingly beautiful.

Another intersting thing about these people was that they all were looking at one individual, who seemed to be the leader. She had long, sornsilk blonde hair and was quite tiny. She could, at first glance, be mistaken for a child.

"It must be done soon." She said authoritavely.

"Are you sure?" A man spoke up anxiously. He had feiry red hair tumbling in ringlets over his shoulders.

"Heath." Another said. "You can't delay it forever. _You _ay be looking to get killed, but the rest of us have a job to do."

"_I _have a job to do." The blond corrected. "I'm the only one that can roam freely without the wolves catching tracing me. The rest of you will remain in here. We can't have the Cullens or the wolves catching a scent. And God knows they'll be looking." She laughed humorlessly. "It amazes me, how creatures so powerful could put so much stock in a few human girls."

Heathe bit his lip. "That's just it though." He muttered without looking at her. "What if…we overestimated the power these imprints have over the wolves?"

"Enough!" The blond snapped. "We all saw it. We all observed the way the packs need these girls. They will not…they _cannot _live without them. We know of no other weaknesses. If we are to kill the wolves, we must kill their mates. Then they'll be begging for death."

Heath looked down. For a moment, no one said anything. Then, "And how will we do this?" A tall, dark haired girl asked. "The wolves see them daily. They barely let them out of their sight."

"Key word there _barely. _They'll have to slip up sometime." The blond shrugged. "I'll just keep my eyes open and pick them off slowly. One by one."

"Why?"

She smiled. "Whats the fun in killing if you can't whatch the victims scramble first?"

Chapter 1

Embry's POV

I highly doubt you read that last thing Cat and I wrote. That's okay. I probably wouldn't have either. It was meant to be read. It was just something Cathryn wanted so she could cleared up on a few things. Make sure it wasn't all a dream. Or nightmare. Whichever. This one, though, will be different. For one thing, this one was _my _idea. For another, Cathryn doesn't just need clearing up on some stuff. This time, she isn't aware that half of this even happened. Also, we want this one read. By as many people involved in the supernatural world as possible. You guys need to know the real story. The truth. About the Volturi, about the Cullens, about us shape shifters.

But, since I'm assuming you know nothing about these differences, having not read the other one and therefore having nothing to compare it with, I'll just catch you up on a few things. This story starts about two years after I first met Cathryn, one year after we started dating. When I first saw her, it was like a punch in the stomach. She hit me _hard._ And I knew I needed her. Which kind of sucked for her, seeing as, you've probably figured out by now, I'm not exactly your average guy. I live in La Push. I'm half Quilleute, half Makah. And Quilleutes-well, not all Quilleutes, just a few- have this tiny little…problem.

We have the ability to change into giant wolves. At will, or when ever we get stressed or angry, we phase into monsters. There are two packs of us. Plus the Cullens, who, despite our insticts to rip them to shreds, have proven to be great allies. Even friends. The Cullens are vampires. The very creatures we were designed for killing. So why are we friends with them?

Well, there's the obvious reason. They are vegetarians. They don't drink the blood of humans, only feeding off of animals. So there really isn't much reason for us to dislike them. But another, more important reason is also the reason I have Cathryn in my life. See, some wolves have a little glitch. A weakness, I guess you'd call it. I mean, despite our shape shifting, we are only human. We can fall in love just like any other human being in the world. Some of us can, anyway. But others imprint.

A werewolf's imprint is their soul mate. When we see her-or him, in Leah's case-we immediately love them more than anything, anyone in the world. It's the only thing that affects us more than an alpha's command. We need them. We need them like we need water and air and food. Without them…we would die. There is nothing anyone could do to hurt us more than to take her away from us.

And Jacob imprinted on a Cullen. So now we are kind of like future in laws.

And I, in case you haven't figured it out yet, imprinted on Cathryn.

"Cathryn." Quil's voice began in an ominous but bad Darth Vader impression. "I…am…your…_father._ Now call me back!"

Cathryn was, at the moment, in the bathroom, changing into her bathing suit. She had, at long last and with the help of Jacob and Quil, convinced me to let her go cliff diving with me and the other guys. Other guys meaning Jacob and Quil. They had gotten surprisingly close in the past year.

Not close enough, however, for Cathryn to bother listening to their messages.

"Remind me Cat, what is your religion? And why is returning calls against it?" That was the second message in her voicemail. It was from Jacob. I pressed seven, deleting it and moving on to the next one.

Which turned out to be from me. "Cathryn Elizabeth Tarver! I don't care if Papaya ran away. I don't care if your mother is deathly ill and you are in tears. I don't care if Lizzie is deathly ill and you are in the middle of a party. I don't care if _you _are dead. Your rotting corpse _will _call me back."

She hadn't, by the way. I moved on.

"Ello." It took me a minute to recognize Brady's voice, disguised with some sort of accent. "I em Pablo from de resssstarint ….tacos……..tacos-tacos. Ean twenty-five meenutes or leees, you weal receive five-hundred tacos at your door. Unless you call and canceal de order. Goode-bye."

The next one was from me again. "_Are _you dead?" I had demanded. I deleted it and moved on.

"Cathryn." Renesmee said, her voice light on the surface but underneath I detected genuine annoyance. "You may not have realized this, what with your tendency to never consider the outcome of your rash and thoughtless actions, but when some one is repeatedly calling you, that usually means that they ant to talk to you. And when you repeatedly don't answer, or even call back, that person may, for some totally irrational reason, feel blown off. _Almost _as if you don't want to talk to them. And after the first fifty or so times this happens, that person may get their feelings hurt. And then they won't really want to see you too much. Thus, if you keep this whole ignoring thing up, you shall become a friendless loser. Except for Embry, because he's an idiot." I rolled my eyes. Thanks so much, Nessie. I am definitely feeling the love. I moved on to the last one.

"Cat." It was me again. "If you don't call me back in the next hour, I am calling Chief Swan."

Cat had not called me back. And I did actually call Charlie. Just to irritate Cat though, not out of actual concern. Mostly.

I reached the end of her voicemails just as Cathryn opened her bathroom door and came out in a red bikini. Well, I think it was red. It may have been orange, though. Or pink. I was trying not to look at it too much, knowing that if I did I was likely to lose my train of thought. "Hey," I said, grinning.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why do you have my phone?" She demanded.

"Well, somebody has to listen to your messages. And that some one obviously isn't you, iof these voicemails are of any indication. Your friends are feeling very ignored." I informed her.

Cathryn walked over and plopped herself down on my lap. "They'll live." She said nonchalantly.

"They might." I acknowledged. "But what about me? You still haven't called me back, you know."

"Yeah." Cathryn got up on her knees so she could reach, and kissed me quickly on the lips. " I don't intend to."

"Of course you don't." I muttered in between kissing her back.

Unfortunately, before we could really get into it, I heard the low rumbling of tires against gravel. "Dang," I sighed, reluctantly pulling away. "Jacob and Quil are here."

"Ugh." Cathryn wrinkled her nose. "Do you think maybe we could just ditch them?"

"Nope." I stood up. "I think they've suffered enough neglect at the hands of Cathryn Tarver already, don't you?"

"Not particularly." Cat sniffed. But she stood up too.

Cathryn's POV

"Cathryn," Embry said anxiously. "It's not too late to back out, you know. If you're scared I totally understand. I can take you straight home. Or," He added as an afterthought, "To my place."

"And Jacob's and Quil's place." I reminded him. "Who will be very angry when they realize that they've been abandoned."

Embry snorted. "Since when have you ever cared about anyone's feelings?"

I ignored the question. "Just jump." Igave him a little shove towards the edge of the cliff.

Embry stared at me for a moment, searching for any sign of fear and uncertainty. He found none. As usual. I wasn't really the scared and uncertain type. Then with a sigh, as if he found jumping off a three-hundred foot high ledge dull, he flung himself over the edge. I whatched, feeling my stomach twist for the first time in anxiety. He was beautiful, I realized, not for the first time. He twisted and cartwheeled himself down, flying rapidly through the air before landing with a splash in the deep blue ocean. Yep, you read correctly. The water was blue for once, and not its usual stormy gray.

Cliff diving looked even more amazing up close. I could already feel the adrenaline.

So why was I suddenly so afraid? Maybe it was the absence of Embry. I had grown to be so pathetically dependant on him lately. Him gone now…I felt alone.

Or perhaps I had finally noticed how high the height actaully was.

Probably, though, I was just chickening out.

But I wasn't going to do that. I took a shaky deep breath, trying to calm myself. Cathryn Tarver did not chicken out. She wasn't afraid of anything. Ever. And Embry was down there. The chance of him ever letting anything happen to me was, like, nil. So, ignoring the weakness in my knees and the roaring in my ears, I backed up a few quick steps. Then I took a running leap off the side of the mountain.

"Aaahhheeeiii!!!!!" I screamed as I fell. It felt, in a word, amazing. Exhilerated. _Free. _

Oh, wait. That was three words.

Whatever. It was fun. I loved it. And the way my stomach lept to my throat, and my arms and leggs flailed helplessly, finding nothing to hold on to? Just added to the thrill.

It did hurt, though, when my body broke the surface of the water. Kind of like a belly-flop. Only I'd jumped feet-first. Almost as soon as I was submegered in the cold liquid, I felt wrm, strong hand pullng me back up.

"You okay, Cat?" Embry asked worredly, pulling me to him.

"Y-yeah," I sputtered, once I was done coughing all over him. "Fine."

"That was _wonderful, _Cathryn." Quil said seriously, a few yards away. "Next time though, you may want to think about actually _diving."_

"Maybe Cathryn doesn't want to go again." Embry countered.

"Yeah," Jacob snorted. "You keep holding on to that dream. She's _Cathryn, _remember? Of corse she wants to do it again."

Embry glanced at me.

I nodded eagerly, trying to keep my teeth from chattering. Embry would use any excuse to keep me from going back up there. And despite the heat radiating from his body, I was _cold. _It was March, the earliest time I could convince Embry to take me. In Florida, March had regularly been in the eighties, but here it was still like the fifties.

But that was not going to stop me from cliff diving until three o'clock in the morning.

Although Embry might….


	2. Chapter 2

Embry's POV

I phased almost immediately after taking Cat home. It was late, and I had patrol. Usually Sam was adamant about the times we needed to patrol, but lately he had been slacking off. Good thing too, because if he hadn't been, Cat and Jacob and Quil and I would have had to call the cliff-diving thing quits about an hour earlier than wee actually had. It was weird but, even though Jacob was technically my alpha, Sam was still pretty much the leader of both packs. You know, once the whole Nessie fiasco had smoothed over all those years ago.

_It was only four years ago. _Jacob reminded me.

Huh. How strange. He was right. But it felt like a lifetime, what with all the things that had happened to me since then.

Anyways, Sam was loosening up with the patrol deal, mostly because of Paul. He and Rachel were getting married this weekend. All of us imprinted werewolves-along with our imprints-were going to be in it. Which was quite a tragedy, seeing as most of us couldn't for the life of us find a tux that wasn't at least two sizes too small. Not that seeing Cathryn in a dress and make-up wasn't worth the pain of a bow tie.

The wolves that hadn't imprinted-plus Quil and Leah, because their imprints were too young-were not going to be in it, because they didn't have anybody to walk down the aisle with. Although Claire _would _be in it. Flower girl. But the others would just be in the crowd. Among family and the elders. And, surprisingly, the Cullens. I guess it shouldn't really have surprised me. After all, they were Rachel's future in-laws.

Jacob had been listening to my thought, and I felt a rush of his desire at my words. Renessmee was still growing more quickly than average, and recently she had gone through her accelerated puberty. Nessie getting boobs had caused Jacob to cross the line. He was no longer satisfied with being a brother to her. He wanted her now in a very different way. The way I wanted Cathryn.

_The way you _have _Cathryn. _Jacob corrected, his thoughts laced with jealousy.

I grinned-well, showed my teeth-as I realized he was right Cat was _mine _now.

Cathryn's POV

I ran up the stairs, shivering violently now that Embry was gone. I missed my space heater. As soon as I got to my room, I went to the closet. I needed to get a sweatshirt. I opened the door, wringing out my still-damp hair.

"Gah!" I gasped, jumping back. And I wasn't the only one who jumped. Cocoa and…some guy leapt apart, knocking down a bunch of my clothes from my hangers as they did so.

"I-what-" I sputtered, trying to find the right words. "Get outta here!" Ah. There they were.

"No." Cocoa answered smoothly. Of course. How stupid of me, thinking that my dear friend would actually do what I said.

I had argued with her enough times to know that no amount of yelling, hitting, or cussing would sway her, so I turned my attention to her boyfriend. _Her _boyfriend in _my _closet. Why was I not surprised? "Who the heck are you?" I demanded.

The guy shoved his hands in his pockets, grinning kind of shyly. "I'm Heath." He said simply, offering a crooked smile that reminded me of Edward, Nessie's father. Actually, there was a lot of things about Heath that reminded me of Edward. The beauty, the pale skin, the freaky eyes….

Oh. Duh. I'm such an idiot.

Despite the fact that I was dating an over-protective werewolf who had constantly harped on me to _stay away from leeches, _I'd spent too much time around Nessie and her family to be afraid. Instead, I stuck out my hand, which Heath shook. "Hiya, bloodsucker." I said. "What are you doing making out with Cocoa? In my closet? Please tell me its some kind of ritual that will end in Cocoa's blood getting sucked, because I'm seriously getting sick of-"

"Whadya mean, _getting?" _Cocoa demanded. "You've been sick of me since the second I showed up here."

I ignored this comment. "Why are you frenching a vampire?" I wanted to know. "I mean, whatever floats your boat, I guess, but don't you think it's a little hypocritical? I mean, considering all the crap you've given me about Embry, then you turn around and date a mythical creature yourself?"

"No, I don't." Cocoa retorted. "Now get out of my business."

"Not until you get out of my room." I responded.

To my complete and utter shock, Cocoa did what I said. Or partially, at least. She grabbed Heath by the hand and lead him out to my balcony, where they closed the door and assumed their tonsil hockey.

I shrugged, turning back to my closet. As long as they weren't right in front of me, I didn't care. And now I could finally get that sweatshirt.


	3. Chapter 3

Embry's POV

Paul Rivers is now a married man. Jacob Black now has in-laws (Aside from the ones he gained when his Rebecca ran off with that Hawaiian surfer). Cathryn Tarver wore a dress. Talk about a day for miracles. I mean, seriously. At sixteen, I would have bet my entire savings on the fact that Paul had no heart. Obviously, I was wrong. I am still in shock about the fact that it was _Rachel Black _that finally managed to melt that heart of stone. Its kind of stupid that it took till their wedding day for most of us to realize all of this. But whatever. It did. I'm an idiot. What else is new? Anyways, this was one wedding to remember. I am willing to bet that half of the guests went home and posted it on you tube.

Here's what happened:

"Wait-"

"Quittit!"

"Don't push me-"

"No, you go _here-_"

"Ow!"

Cathryn rubbed her bare arm, wincing. Jacob and Nessie, Seth and Keilly, Jared and Kim, Emily and Sam, Collin and Leslie, and Cathryn and I were all crowded at the front f the aisle, trying to get with our correct partner in the correct order without any of the guests seeing us. Rachel was yet to arrive, her sister was helping her with some sort of mishap with the dress. Claire and Byron, the flower girl and ring bearer, were off to the side, watching us grown-ups bicker like we were younger than they were. It must have been highly amusing. Billy seemed to think so, at least. He too was off to the side, and trying very hard not to laugh at the rest of us guys, none of whom could breathe in our too-small suits.

"Could you like, not smoosh me?" Leslie asked Kim irritably, stumbling as Kim stepped into her.

Note to self: at mine and Cats wedding, make sure it's got a big enough entrance for a pack of wolves and their girlfriends.

"I'm trying!" Kim snapped. I raised my eyebrows at Jared. He grinned. Kim was normally the quiet, sensitive one. It was always amusing to see her grow a spine.

"Crap! My hair!" Keilly's hands fluttered to her scalp. She had her hair done up in ringlets at the base of her neck, and a strand had come loose. Barely noticeable, in my opinion, but the bridesmaids seemed to disagree.

"Here, come here." Emily soothed, somehow managing to maneuver through the rest of us to get to Keilly. She twisted up the strand and moved a bobby pin around till it was attached again.

"All right! We're here!" Rebecca announced, pulling Rachel with one hand and her husband by the other. She and her husband took their place at the front. She was the maid of honor.

They'd gotten here just in time. The music started playing.

Rebecca and her husband first…Emily and Sam…Jared and Kim…Me and Cathryn. We walked down the aisle slowly, watching to see which side Jared and Kim went on so that we could go the opposite. When we had all gotten there, the crowd stood and turned, awaiting Rachel and Billy. The wedding march picked up.

I suppose she must have been beautiful. The look on Paul's face definitely said she was. Her hair fell in loose, full curls down her back, covered in a gauzy veil. Her dress had a train that I swear to God was a mile long. I didn't really look, though. I was too busy looking at another girl.

In my defense, do you know when I have ever seen Cathryn wear makeup other than mascara and occasionally cover up? Never! What about her hair in a style besides down straight? Ditto. And a dress? Once. One year ago. And she had been wearing it for her boyfriend who, at the time was not me. Oh yeah, that brought up great memories.

Not that she doesn't look like an angel in jeans and loose hair. She so does. Still though, its nice to get some variety. And let me tell you, she was stunning. Her eyes were huge with excitement as she took in the look on Paul's face when he saw Rachel. Her smile took my breath away. And that dress…lets just say Rachel obviously didn't mind her bridesmaid's showing off what they had upstairs. And Cathryn was far from flat.

So, yeah. I was too busy looking at my girlfriend to pay attention to my brother saying his vows. Somebody sue me.

The music faded as Rachel and Billy reached the end of the aisle. Billy and Jacob gave her away, then the preacher started.

"Dearly beloved." He began. "We are gathered here today-"

And that's when it happened.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time. You know that song, right? Of course you do. Everyone does. Yeah, well, Quil and Jacob and I learned the dance in like the fourth grade. Quil absolutely adored it. When he got a cell, he made it his ringtone. And never changed it.

It was that phone, that song, that we all heard going off in the middle of Rachel Black's "special day". I glanced at Paul, worried more about his reaction than hers. But to my surprise, he was laughing. His eyes weren't even on Quil, they were on-

Emmett. Emmett Cullen. And Brady. Standing up among the guests and doing the dance.

Let me tell you, the only thing funnier than a vampire and a werewolf dancing in the middle of a chapel is a vampire and a werewolf dancing in the middle of a chapel with their girlfriends trying to stop them.

Needless to say, Cat and I laughed until we cried.

"This is sick!" Cathryn gasped, falling into my arms and collapsing against my chest in a fit of giggles.

We were sitting at one of the tables at the reception with Jacob and Renesmee. Quil off alone somewhere, watching Claire in amusement, who had come out of her shell for once and had made it her mission to dance with every guest at Rachel and Paul wedding. Boy or girl. Adult or child. Vampire or werewolf. The kid was unstoppable. That was what Cathryn had just come back from doing. Dancing with the flower girl.

First, though, she had forced _me _to dance with her. Not that I minded too much, I would have gone with her into the eye of a hurricane if she'd asked me to. Or commanded, in this case. I actually wasn't that bad. You know, werewolf coordination and all that. Plus I had Cathryn to lead me, and she was better than some of the vampires. Anyway, after about a million dances with me, Claire intervened, and I was banished to Jac0b and Nessie's table. Both of whom hadn't danced to a single song. They were too deep in a conversation about something or another…I didn't really care. I was too busy watching Cathryn. The dance floor was the only place she looked remotely graceful. Guess all that ballet wasn't pointless after all.

Now though, Claire had moved on to her next victim, leaving Cat by the drink table, where I'd seen her sneakily toss down a cup of wine. It had already kicked in, apparently.

"How's my little alcoholic doing?" I asked her teasingly.

"_Wonderful!_" She kissed my neck. Chills ran up my spine. And that was no easy feat, considering my body temperature. "I was slap happy before the wine, though." She added, still chortling.

"Of course you were."

"No, seriously." She pulled away slightly, much to my disappointment, to look at me better. "I haven't been to a wedding in forever. I thought they were supposed to be…dull and stuff. But there was the PB and J incident. And I love these dresses. And the photographer was awesome." She grinned up at me. I had taken the pictures. I also did not lower the prices, much to Paul's chagrin. I didn't care. I had my own ring to save up for. Not for a while now, of course, but it was always good to think ahead. They really didn't care about the price though, in the end. I let them do anything they wanted. Now in their photo albums, instead of having a bunch of dull bright smiles, they had:

and Rachel french-kissing

2. Ditto Sam and Emily

3. Ditto Jared and Kim

4. Ditto Seth and Keilly

Collin and Leslie

6. Ditto Me and Cat. I'd gotten somebody else to take that one.

7. Leah running around with Nate on her shoulders, the picture made all the more comical by the fact that she was in a dress.

8. Claire dumping her basket of flower petals on Quil's head

9. All the bridesmaids joining forces in order to pick up Paul. I know. I was shocked too.

10. Everyone jumping at the exact same moment. This one was my favorite because they were all standing at the edge of the lake and you could see their reflections. Very cool.

11. Everyone crowding around the camera, laughing their guts out.

"Yeah." I agreed. "The photographer was pretty awesome."

"Plus they aren't playing any old people music!" Cathryn cried. Clearly, this was the best thing in the entire wedding in her eyes. My little iPod junkie. "They are actually playing _good _stuff. Maybe not all worthy of my iPod, but plenty of top forties."

"Yes, heaven forbid they not play radio hits!" I said, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

Cathryn rolled her eyes. "Come on, I can't sit still." She said suddenly, standing up. "Let's dance some more!"

Chapter 6

Cathryn's POV

It was after midnight when I finally stumbled through the door of my room. I flopped down on the bed with out the intention of even taking off my shoes. I was that tired. I rolled over, and-

Cocoa.

She was standing at the balcony with her face pressed against the glass door. She pointed angrily at the handle. I grinned in spite of my irritation at not being able to sleep. I had recently invested in some locks.

With a sigh, I rolled out of bed and unlocked the door before stumbling back to bed. Cocoa raced into my room, pausing only to make fun of my wardrobe.

"Hey, Barbie." She said, an eyebrow raised at my heels and pink dress.

"Hey Cokehead." I retorted. "You ditched the wedding."

"Did you ever think I would go?" Cocoa asked me, amused. She shoved me over and laid down next to me.

"Not really." I admitted.

"Okay." Cocoa changed her tone, suddenly angry."What's with the locks?"

"Well, I gotta have some means of security if I'm always going to have you around." I paused, giving her a false sence of security before dropping the bomb. "You…and your vampire."

"Argh!" Cocoa kicked the sheets around angrily. "He's not mine!"

"Fine." I snickered. "No need to take it out on my bed."

Cocoa scowled. She knew me too well to think that I was actually done with her. She was, of course, right. "If he isn't yours, then why did you invite him to your-my-room? Or closet, should I say."

"I didn't invite him." She spat. "He just showed up. He does that."

"So why didn't you tell him to jump off a bridge?" I questioned. "Like you do everybody else in the world."

Cocoa sat up and looked down at me. Her black hair fell over her eyes, so I couldn't read the expression in them. Buit I had a feeling that what she was about to tell me was something big. Don't ask me why. The only meaningful conversations Cocoa and I had were arguments over whether or not Embry was allowed to climb _Cocoa's _tree onto _Cocoa's _balcony in order to get into my room at night. It was an ongoing battle, but I like to think that I won most of the time. But this…this felt different.

Coca opened her mouth. "If you tell anyone I said this I swear to God Chief Swan is going to be investigating your homicide." She threatened.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved her off. "I'll take it to the grave, won't tell a soul, all that jazz. Now spill."

Cocoa paused. "No!" She said suddenly, laying back down. "I don't think I will."

I was prepared for this and retaliated with a ready, "I let you live with me, girl. You owe me. And," I added, "I still have that hair dye."

"Ugh!" Cocoa slapped me on the head. "I hate you." She told me.

"I know."

Cocoa took a deep breath. She knew when she was beat. I grinned giddily. Maybe I was still a little loopy, but for some reason this gave me aa thrill. _I was forcing something out of Cocoa. _You may not realize this, but the last time I'd done that resulted in me finding my soulmate. Or rather, my soulmate finally getting off his lazy butt and telling me how he felt already.

She cut straight to the chase, not stalling like she had last time. "Its like this," She said in a rush. "I want to be a vampire. Like, bad. Lke crazy bad. And Heath shows up one day, totally random, going on about how he's in love with me. And I figured, you know, amybe if I went along with it long enough…he'd change me. Into one."

I whistled, long and low. "Wow, Cokes." I said.

"Stop calling me that!"

"You," I pointed at her. "Are terrible. You know that?"

"Yeah," Cocoa said grudgingly. She knew I wasn't talking about breaking the law. Or loosing virginity a little early. She knew I meant principal. She knew I meant it this time.

"Get out." I commanded, pointing at the door. "Get out, or be forced to endure my ery long lectre."

"Fine." Cooca grumbled, getting off the bed and exiting.

I kicked off my shoes. So much for sleep. My mind was too full now. I tried to think back to when I was with Ethan. I guess I might have done the same to him. The same to some one I didn't love. But Embry…I shook my head, trying to wrap my head around it. How she could ever use him that way, I had no idea. Don't get me wrong, now, I'm no Saint. But I wouldn't use Embry like that. I could never hurt him.

Oh, shut it. I know what you're thinking. Cocoa doesn't love Heath. Wh ywould she care hwether or not she was hurting? Cocoa and Heath had nothing on Embry and me. And they didn't. Heck, Romeo and Juliet didn't have anything on us. Last time Ichecked, they were both _human. _

Anyway, they weren't _that _in love. But you didn't see the way Cocoa was kissing him. She loved him, at least a little bit. Even if she didn't know it yet.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 7

Embry s POV

It had been about a week since the wedding when Sam and Emily had the fight. It was over something really stuoid, as far as I could tell. But I didn t know too much about it for two reasons. One, the obvious, was that I wasn t in Sam s head anymore. Even if I had been, I doubt I would have known, because Sam didn t remember himself. He just remembered the anger, the thingsa he said to her after things got heated. The second was that even if I was part of Sam s pack, even if he remembered very minute detail, I wouldn t have paid close attenetion. I would have avoided listening to Sam s thoughts at all costs. All imprinted werewolves would. It hit too close to home. Made us think about what would happen if we had that kind of fight with our own soulmates. What had happened with Sam s, was that Emil had taken Nate, and moved out. Not permanetnly, obviously. In fact, she had left giving Sam the impression that she was just going for a drive. To clear her head. To let them both cool down a bit. But when she didn t come home that night, Sam assumed that she had spent the night at her mom s maybe found a motel someplace. It broke Sam s heart. Everyone knew that. The dejected look in his eyes, the howls at three am. It took two days of hearing no word from Em to start getting Sam worried. Emily knew how much he needed her. She knew that two days wold cause him beyond pain. So why wasn t she back yet? He tried calling her cell, and nobody answered. Multiple times. And that was when he signaled a pack-well, packs- meeting.  
_I haven t heard from her at all-the fight wasn t even that bad_-_I can t help thinking_ . Sam spoke through Jacob s head. Or rather, he tried to. His thoughts, though, were so jumbled up, so frenzied, they were hard to understand.

_Chill, Sam_. Leah thought, again using Jacob as a telephone to get the message across. Her thoughts towards him were reassuring, but the members of Jaco s pack could tell something was wrong. When Emily had left, she d taken Nate with her. She was hurting almost as much as Sam at this point. _I m sure they re fine. We ll just follow their scent to wherever she_ _decided to drop off the face of the earth, and you can apologise._

Which was what we did. Or at least, we tried to. But we only made it to about the highway. That was where their scents disappeared.

Seriously.

Disappeared. Like, poof.

We cricled around, doubled back and started over, ran ahead. But it was no use. Emily's scent, her car's scent, Nate's scent.

They were all completely vanished.

It was just as Sam and Leah were getting ready to have heart attacks that Paul phased.

You guys, I m assuming, have never been an imprinted werewolf on their honeymoon, so I don t expect you to be able to fathom how odd this was. I will, however, try to explain. See, When Jared and Kim had gotten married, and when Sam and Emily had, the wolves had not phased once. I don t even think they slept. Or ate. Or did anything at all other than... you know. And when they did finally come back, their thoughts were so disgustingly perverted that the rest of us went to amazing legths in order to not be in their heads. This sex-obsession usually lasted for months befroe they were finally able to get over themselves and actually gain their personality back. But when Paul phased, he wasnot, much to all of our suprises, picturing Rachel's naked body. Sure, he was picturing Rachel, but not that way. In fact, the tenor of his thoughts were quite similar to Sam's and Leah's.  
_Guys, I can t find her_. He thought frantically. _Anywhere. She s just gone. I tried to find her scent human, but I couldn t, and now I can t in this body either_ .  
That was when the whole search for Emily thing pretty much fell apart. Too many imprints had disappeared. We were seeing a pattern. We ran to La push at top speed, not caring whether or not we were glimped by a few hikers. Jacob howled loudly, trying to signal Quil, but again he ignored us. Which probably meant he was with Claire. So at least his imprint was safe.  
I don t know how the rest of the wolves were feeling during those moments. I was much to preoccupied with my own thoughts. I can easily tell you that I had never in my life been as terrified as I felt in that moment. Every cell in my body ached to phase back to human, to find Cathryn. To make sure that she was safe. I didn t know if somebody was targeting the imprints or, if they were, why, but I didn t care. All I cared about was finding Cat. I think Jacob was tempted to not let me. To not let any of us. He wanted us all to go straight to the Cullens, for all of us to find Nessie. But he didn t alpha command it, thank God. I think that if he had we would have killed him. Literally.

As soon as I got close to Cathryn"s house, I phased back and pulled on my sweats. I felt quickly around in my pockets for my phone, ready to hear word from the others if their own imprints wer gone. Her scent was everywhere here. But then, she lived here. It didn t matter if I could smell her now. She d been all over. I circled around quickly to the front and banged on the door. I bounced up and down impatiently. Every second I didn t know where she was was a second something could be happening to her.

It was just as I was contemplating breaking the door down that her stepfather, Bob, answered. "Embry?"He asked, looking up at me warily. If I hadn t been so freaked out, I would have laughed. Her family had always been wary of me, and they thought we were just friends.

"IsCatthere!" I blurted, my words stubling over each other in an effort to get out.

Bob's eyebrows furrowed. "Excuse me?" He asked.  
I took a deep breath, trying to calm down a little. The attept was unsuccesful, of course. I had to pay close attention to the way I spoke. "Is Cathryn there?"

Bob relaxed in understanding. "Oh. No, actually, I cant say that she is. Sorry." And he shut the door in my face.  
Needless to say, I stopped breathing for a full minute. I probably would have passed out on the spot had it not been for my phone, vibrating in my pocket. At first, I didn t answer. I couldn t feel my arms. I couldn t feel anything. Nothing but a cold sence of dread, slowly wellig up inside me. But, eventually, I got the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I choked out. "Jared?" I took a deep breath throgh my nose, trying to get my heart beating again. Maybe they had found Emily. Maybe Cat was just hanging out at the beach, and I was freaking out over nothing.  
"Embry." Jared breathed. In that one word, I knew that I had been wrong. Everything was not all right. The dread grew impossibly bigger. "Its Kim. She's-she's gone." His voice broke on the last word.  
My knees buckled. I grabbed clumsily at the proch swing for suport, but my arms wouldn t work. I sat down heavily, swaying. I didn t notice when the phone fell out of my hand.

Cathryn was gone, Cathryn was gone, Cathryn was gone. The words went around and around in my head, refusing to leave. It seemed like every time I thought it, it hurt a little more.

I couldn t think.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 8

Cathryn s POV

Tom and Jerry.

That s what we were whatching when Embry came. I was at the Young's, Claire and Blaire curled up on the couch while Quil and I lounged on the floor. I loved Tom and Jerry. All the crap the mouse puts Tom through... truly comic. It was one of my favorite episodes, too. Not one of those later ones where they add in all those characters and Tom and Jerry learn how to speak and Jerry has that little mouse friend with him all the time. No, this was a good one, just Tom and Jerry and their little adventures while their mistress was away.

Some one banged on the door.

Quil sighed and pushed himself up. "Embry." He muttered. "I ll get it. The pack is probably mad at me for ditching their little meeting." He didn't bother lowering his voice. Blaire had been in on the secret for almost as long as Claire had, despite the fact that she was not an imprint.  
He walked out of the room. I heard the creaking of the door open. "Sup, man?" Quil said.  
Embry ignored this little pleasantry. "Where s Cat?" He demanded.

If I had been listenig properly, which I hadn t been, due to Tom getting his face smashed in with a window, I'd have noticed the indercurrent of anxiety in his voice. Or rather, the raw terror in it. But I wasn't. Tom and Jerry were much more interesting to me than the tone of my boyfriend's voice.  
Quil must have felt the same way, because he didn't catch on either. "What, no greeting for your best friend? No-"

Embry, apparantly, was not in the mood. Not if the way he slammed Quil up against the wall was of ay indication. Or at least, that what it sounded like he was doing. I was too lazy to investigate. "Where is she?" He growled. Embry was one of the taller and stronger memebrs of the pack anyway, but his apparent adrenaline rush caused him to dominate. Quil couldn t seem to get Embry to let him go.  
"Dude!" He sputtered. "What the- "

Embry lost patience. I heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking. Accompanied by a angry roar from Quil. Embry strode quickly into the living room, his expression feirce. His chest was moving up and down heavily, his hands clenched into fists. He looked terrifying.

Not that that worried me in the least. I raised an eybrow.

"Hey." I said. Bit grumpy, are we?"

Embry's eyes zeroed in on me, and his entire demeanor changed. He sort of seemed to melt in front of me, kneeling down and pulling me to him. He kissed me once, roughly, before sitting down with me in his lap. He was no longer tence, frightening. His arms were gentle as they cradled me to his chest. He pressed his cheek to the top of my head. "Cat," He murrmered, his voice shaking.  
That was when it finally dawned upon my idiotic brain that something was wrong.  
"Embry?" I tried to twist around so I could see his face, but he only held me tighter. Like I would disappear if he let me go.  
That was when Quil stumbled in. It really was a good thing Claire was in the room, or else we would have heard a fair amount of cussing. He was holding his nose. His shirt was covered in blood. And the look he gave Embry wished openly for his demise.

"You broke his nose?" I asked Embry.  
Embry shrugged, unashamed. "I was under a lot of stress." He said.  
Quil gaped. "You saw the girl this morning!"

Embry did not respond. Instead, he loosened his grip on me a little so that I could move. I breifly considered getting up and leaving Embry to work out whatever issues he was having alone, but something in his eyes kept me from doing it. I just turned and wrapped my legs around his waist. Stradling him, as was my habit. He inclined his head and kissed me again, this one slower, softer. It cradled me, like his arms had moments before. When the kiss ended, he leaned his forhead against mine for a breif moment before turning back to Quil, who had sat back down on the floor. He was whatching us with an expression that one could only call bemused. Apparantly, even imprinted werewolves weren t supposed to need their girlfriends this much.

Unless of course the sky was falling. A fact I had already worked out for myself, and was just waiting for Quil to catch up.  
Embry s voice was still uneven as he explained what had happened. "Sam can t find Emily." He muttered, his eyes flickering to me. "We searched for her, and its like she dropped off the face of the earth. And Paul came back from his honeymoon without Rachel. Now Jared can t find Kim." He wrapped his arms more tightly around me, not seeming to realize he was doing so. It was too close. I squirmed uncomfortably.  
Quil stopped scowling at him. Instead, he looked at me, his eyes understanding. "So when you came here..." He said slowly.  
"I went to Cat s place first. And they didn t know where she was. I thought..." His voice trailed off, and he kissed the top of my head.

"So what do you think is happening?" I tried to understand.  
Embry shook his head. "We don t know. We can t find their scents anywhere. We don t smell any leeches, but what else could it be? Unless there s some other creature something else we don t know about yet."

Quil turned his gaze back to me. In that second, I think we both realized the same thing.

Whatever was happening, whoever was targeting us, it wasn t something we had dealt with before. And we didn t have any means of knowing where they were , when they'd attack.  
It would be like trying to fight against the wind.  
Quil turned to Claire, still on the couch. Unfortunatley, she had heard and understood the entire conversation. Her expression was terrified. Quil reached one hand out to her, his face full of undisguised longing. "Claire." He whispered, the exact same way Embry had said my name minutes before. Claire needed no other encouragement. She scrambled off the couch and into Quil s eager arms. He burried his face in her mane of kinky hair.  
For some reason, this made it final for me. I was so used to Emrby needing me, freaking out over me, that it hadn t seemed like such a big deal when he did it. But now, whatching Quil with Claire...  
"Crap." I whispered to myself.  
Truly, guys. What is so wrong with living a normal, non-deadly life? Anything? Anything at all?

Embry s POV

I spent the rest of the afternoon in Cathryn's room, more or less glued to her side. I still hadn't gotten over the whole thing, and being away from her for even a second felt like an eternity. Like, no matter how short the amount of time, if I let her out of my sight, she'd be taken.

That evening I took her to the Clearwater's for supper. Everyone was there. And the imprinted wolves, I saw to my satisfaction, looked every bit as attatched as I was. There wasn't one imprint that wasn't in a stranglehold by their wolf. For once, food was the last thing on everybody's mind as we all gathered in the living room.

Billy rolled forward in his wheelchair. "Okay." He said, not bothering to be mature and council elderly about this. "I'm stumped. Any ideas?"

" There aren t any other creatures." Carlisle spoke up. The Cullens were there too. "We would know if there were."

" Then its gotta be a bloodsucker." Sam murmered, without looking at anybody. He was entirely broken. I would know that even if I wasn t able to hear his heartbeat, weak and uneven.  
"But how- "Bella started, looking at Alice.

"I don t know, okay!" Alice cried, pressing her hands to either side of her head. "I can t see anything!"

" We couldn t smell anything." Leah said. Her voice was raw with fear.

I glanced down at Cathryn. She shook her head in wonder. I knew what she was thinking. Only the loss of Nate would bring Leah to the low of being civil to leeches.  
"Maybe it s a gift." Edward offered. "A sort of shield."

" It doesn t matter!" Paul growled. "I don t give a shit who it was that took my wife. Or what powers they have or whatever. All I care about is that we can't smell them or see them or anything. We're gonna be completely blind anyway, so what does it matter who did it?"

I exchanged a quick glance with Jacob, who had Nessie tucked securely under one arm. Paul hadn't lost hs temper in any way in a long time. Not since before.

Jake rubbed his eys sleepily. "Look," He sighed.

"Its obvious we aren t getting anywhere with this. I say we just go home and keep an eye out."

" Right." Seth agreed quickly, looking releived. "Come on, Keils." He scooped her up as easily as if she were a bag of groceries and left, slamming the door behind him.  
I looked down at Cathryn. "Cat, tell your parents that your with the Cullens."

" Why?" She demanded.

"Because I m not letting you out of my sight. Your spending the night with the wolves tonight."

"Yeah." Quil hastily agreed. "Sam, could you call Claire s parents, tell them she ll be with you and Emily?"

Cathryn looked like she was about to protest, but at the mention of Claire, she took out her phone and called her parents. "Hey, Mom." She said, her voice lifeless. "I m going to Nessie s for the night, kay? Thanks, I ll- .no, its fine. Bye." She hung up and looked at me. "Okay. Take me to your house."

..............................................

"I still think this whole thing is completely unnessesary." Cathryn announced.

Quil shot her a disgusted look. Usually, the two got along great. But now Quil and I were trying to keep Cathryn and Claire safe, and Cathryn balked at whatever we said. And Claire agreed with whatever Cathryn said.

"I mean, its nice that you guys are trying to protect us and all, but we have school."

" So?" Quil demanded. "Which would you rather have? A couple of unexused absences, or a gravestone with your name on it? Besides, you're fourteen. You jump at the chance to ditch."

" Not if I m ditching in favor of being kept prisoner in my own home." Cathryn pointed out. "Or," She added, with a glance at me. "My boyfriend s house."

" Are you saying you d rather be in French than with me?" I demanded.  
Cathryn shot me an exasperated look. I fought the urge to grin.

"I just don t see how it would be dangerous for me to go to school. You take me there and back. And Leslie and I have, what eight different werewolves at our school to protect us?"

" Well what about Claire?" Quil asked. "She doesn t have anyone. If she s left alone... "

Claire looked up at the sound of her name. She was sitting in his lap, giving her easy access to Quil s face. She reached up and put her hand to his cheek. He closed his eyes sleepily at her touch, giving himself in to her. "Quil." She murmered soothingly, in a voice much more mature than her seven years.  
I looked away. It reminded me of this morning. I was sure that that was what we'd looked like.

Cathryn leaned back against me, knowing that fighting with Quil about Claire's safety would cause only to hurt and anger him. For once, that did not seem to be her goal in arguing this. She took a deep breath. "I m not talking about Claire." She said softly, her voice even and controlled. "A wolf can whatch her while she s there. I only meant those of us in high school. I don t want anything happening to Claire-bear, either."

For the second time, I resisted the urge to laugh. Oh, but she was good. She knew exactly what to say to calm him down. She even called Claire_ Claire-bear_. Cat shot me a sideways smirk. She knew that I knew what was going on.

Cathryn s POV

It was the dead of night. I held my breath as I shimmied down the long trunk, careful not to make the deadly pluge to earth. It was risky, I knew, but my life depended on it. Depended on escaping. My breathing was uneven, my legs quivering from the horrror of what I had experienced in the last week. I sighed in releif as my feet hit the soft, damp earth. I turned around, inhaling the scent of freedom. The trees, frightening to others, were like a safe haven. They welcomed me.  
"Going somewhere?" A vpice rang out through the silence. I froze for a second in shock. Then I turned to face my captor.  
Embry leaned casually against the wall, most of his face obscurred in the darkness. But even so, I could see that it was torn between dissaproval and amusement.

Okay, so fine. This was the fourth time I'd tried to get out of my house in a week. You'd try too, if you couldn t see anybody except at school, and your boyfriend, your only source of entertainment, refused to make out with you for fear that he'd lose his train of thought and be unable to hear if Jacob called him. That last part was kind of flattering, but more irritating than anything else.  
As was the way Embry proceeded to throw me caually over his shoulder, as if I were a twenty-pound sac, and climb agiley back up to my blacony.  
Back to my prison.  
"You suck, Call." I muttered sourly as Embry turned to head back down.  
Embry grinned, by insult rolling right off him. "I m sorry you feel that way." He said, kissing the top of my head. "Because you are going to be stuck with me for the rest of your life."

I slapped him.

Embry s POV

I left work early, as was my custom. I had a deal planned out with my boss, see. If I left every afternoon for about twenty minutes to take Cathryn home, then I had to work twenty minutes late. That was fine with me. Lately I d been taking her over to the Young's house, so Quil coud keep an eye on her. Up until two days ago, when Claire had gone missing. None of the imprints had been found yet. Nor a scent. And Cathryn had noticed the general absence of Cocoa lately some one who could easily be mistaken for an imprint, as she hung out with us so often.  
I pulled up to the high school and looked around casually for Cat. After a few moments, I spotted Leslie and Collin getting into his car. I honked. Collin looked over and smiled.

"You know where Cat is?" I asked, speaking as if he were a foot awayh. He d have no problem hearing me.  
His smile froze on his face. "Er... she said you were picking up early... she left about an hour ago." My heart stopped, then took off at an alarming speed, much like it had the first time. Oddly enough though, it hadn t gotten any less excruciating.  
"Look," Collin said quickly, trying to soothe me. Ha. Like that would work. "I m sure she's just at the beach somewhere. You know how much she hates being cut off like-"

But he was no longer in hearing range for me. I had taken off, speeding none to subtly down the road, following Cathryn's frechest scent. She wasn't here as often as she was her home, so this one I could pick out.  
Collin was right. Her scent lead me to the beach. When I got to the stones, I stopped and wrenched open the door, not bothering to close it behind me. I ran quickly past the few people on the beach. It was still early for tourist season. I moved in quick, jerking movements, running much too quickly for a human, but I didn t care.  
Not that it mattered. Right by the water's edge, about a mile down from where I had parked, I lost her scent.

The world spun sickeningly before my eyes. I shut them, fighting the hysteria threatening to overpower me. But it didn t help. I saw her behind my eyelids. Cathryn. Her beautiful face aranged into the sarcastic smirk she wore so often, that I feared I would never see again.  
Because she was gone. Just like the others.  
Poof.


	6. Chapter 6

Cathryn s POV

I sighed in releif when I reached the stones that began the beach. I hadn t been here in forever. Almost ten days. I'd almost forgotten what it looked like. I ran down by the water's edge, relishing the feeling of my muscles working, flexing and contracting. I hadn't felt that in a while either. Stupid bloodsuckers. Why'd they have to go and ruin everything? Jacob and Quil and Embry and me were going to go tubing out to James island this weekend. Obviously mute point now that a crisis had broken out. I slowed down once I reached the cliffs, and did a little twirl, spreading my hands wide. It was a sad story when I felt this gleeful over something that I should have been able to do whenever. One of the downsides to dating a werewolf. The protectiveness. And, of course, the whole being-kidnapped-and-then-brutally-murdered thing. Actually, I probably shouldn t have been thinking that. Not what you'd call a positive outlook. Especially since there was a woman walking swiftly down the beach now, her blond hair whipping her face. She was beautiful, pale and graceful. One of the undead for sure. Her gaze was, quite obviously, on me. There was nobody else around.  
Oh, crap. No one else around.  
Well then. So much for screaming.  
I know. I know it was stupid. I know that the chances of me out running a vampire were like one in ....  
Well, there wasn't a chance of me out running a vampire, to be perfectly honest.  
But I did it anyway. I turned and hightailed it, heading straight for the woods behind me. Which was also dumb. If I went in there, there was even less a chance of anybody seeing us. But when your are about to die, your insticts just sort of take over. And you run, boy. You run for your life.  
My life, as it happened, ended about three seconds after I started running. Yep. That was how long it took her to catch me.  
"Dang." I muttered, squirming uncomfortably in her cold, hard grasp. I was hoping I'd make it longer than that.

The vampire was running back now. Too fast for anybody to see us even if there had been anyone on the beach. She had me slung up over her shoulder, much like Embry had when I tried to make my escape at night.  
Embry.  
I felt a pang of regret. This was going to kill him.  
But I quickly shook it off. I did not have long to live, and I wasn't going to spend the last of it crying about what could have been. I mean, how cliche .

Instead, I craned my neck backward at the vampire. "So," I said, my voice slightly uneven from bouncing against her rocklike shoulder as she ran. "What s your name, blondie?"

She stopped suddenly, and threw me back over. We were standing in front of a car.

My feet hit the ground suddenly. Too quickly. I staggered.

The vampire rolled her eyes as she opened the passenger door and shoved me in. "My name is Amanda." She said.  
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I hadn't really expected her to tell me. Or for it be be such a sweet name. Amanda. How not fitting.  
She started the car, backing out and on the highway to Seattle in a matter of minutes. Crazy fast. But then, I already knew from the Cullens that leaches like going fast.

I glanced next to me, out the window. Then, as the idea hatched in my head, I smirked. Sure, there was no way this chick was going to fail in my kidnapping. But that didn't mean I had to make it easy on her. When I was twelve, and my mom had first told me that we would be moving to Washington, I'd kicked a hole in her windsheild as revenge. I could do it again.  
I leaned back, casually resting my feet against the dashboard as if it were an unconsious movement. Then, while she was making a turn, I lifted my feet to the glass and pressed upward with all my might, shutting my eyes in case glass flew in my face.  
I grinned in satisfaction as I heard the glass shatter.  
Amanda whirled her head around ot face me, her face livid. Despite the fact that it was absolutely chilling, my grin widened.  
This was going to be fun.

Embry s POV

"EMBRY!" Quil s voice came crashing upon me. He ran up. "Dude, we ve been calling-well, howling-for you for forever."

I turned to stare at him dully. He looked better than he had since Claire had been taken. I felt a spark of irrational hope. "What?" I asked. "Have we-"

" There s this guy," Jacob inurrupted, comng up behind him. Nessie had gone, too. He spoke in a low,quick voice, as if some one could hear us. "Heath. Leach. He says he knows where they are." I

snorted. Even in my half-crazed with greif head that didn t sound right. "What? And you believed him?"

" Edward read his mind." Jacob said. "He said that he was telling the truth. Though he didn t seem too happy about it." He noted.  
"Can you blame him?" Quil scowled.  
I stared at the two of them for a moment, waiting for it all to sink in. I felt like somebody had put me in a box and covered me with bubblewrap. Everything I saw, heard, smelled. It felt distant. Fuzzy. I wondered if that was a sideaffect of being without Cat.  
Cat.  
I blinked, trying to see through the haze.

She was going to die.

Cathryn Tarver, my my girl, my everything, was going to cease to exist. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't.  
I latched on to the conviction with a sence of determination so strong that it rivaled the pain, battled the haze. Because if anything happened to Cathryn, then the world was over. My life was, literally, over. Asking me to live without Cat would be like asking me to live among ...seahorsesor something. It wasn't something I could do. And even if I could, I sure as hell wouldn't want to.  
I took a deep breath-or tried to, anyway. God, I couldn t even breathe right without her.-and looked at Quil and Jacob, reading there faces. Their expressions were idectical, to each other's and to how I felt. Hope so desperate it was almost pain.

"Okay." I sighed, bracing myself for the agony that was sure to be my pack's minds. "Where do I go?"

" Come on." Jacob and Qul turned simultaniously, both walking so quickly they were halfway to the woods already. "He'll take us there."

Cathryn s POV

We didn't, to my surprise, end up in Seattle. She turned off the road just before we got there, driving down a couple miles until we got to an old abandoned building. Probably some kind of store. She picked me up and carried me in wordlessly. I giggled under my breath. Maybe it was the adrenaline that was making me loopy, but that ride had been the time of my life. After breaking both the front and side windows, I'd pestered her about turning on the radio for twenty minutes before she finally did it. Then I had proceeded to quiz her about which imprints she had and had not kidnapped. Until she told me about Claire, Then I'd quit speaking to her. That one had leaked through all the amusement and caused me real indignation. Quil would have been proud.  
Once she had dumped me inside, I got a chance to look around. The first thing I noticed was my friends. They were all huddled up together against the wall, Nessie at the front. I felt a rush of pride. Oh, yeah, my best friend rocked! She was willing to be murdered first in order to protect the others. Claire was sitting in Emily s lap next to Nate. Nate was sleeping, but Claire was shaking with fear and tears.

I immediately walked over, squiching myslef down between Keilly and Emily, and took Claire out of her arms. She fastened her arms around my neck, burrying her face, hot with tears, into my shoulder. Her breath caught in a ragged sob. "I w-w-want .Q-qui-i-ill!" She whispered.  
"Shhh!" I pressed my lips to the top of her head, trying to console her. "S'okay." Until I realized that it wasn't. As soon as she said Quil's name, loniness eveloped me. Embry would know how to calm Claire down. I wanted him now, more than I ever had. Only I had the misfortune of being a big girl. I couldn't cry and talk about Embry.  
And I was never going to see him again.  
I leaned my head on Keilly's shoulder. "So." I said briskly, trying to shake the feeling. "Picturing Seth's face right now?"

" You know it." She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest.

I don t know if it was then that I fell asleep, or awhile later. The details leading up to what happened are a little fuzzy. All I remember is sitting up and rubbing my eyes to find that Leslie had now joined us, her small body shaking as much as Claire's only from fright rather than tears.  
"All right, get up, all or you."

For the first time, I noticed the other vampires. They each grabbed one of us individually, tearing us apart and ruining what resolve we had. I whatched as Keim, Claire, Rachel, Emily, Nessie-Cocoa? And all the others were taken.  
I was numb. I honestly barely felt it when a male leach with dark curly hair like Emmett s-no, not like Emmetts. I refused to compare him with such a sucky excuse for life-grabbed me by my own hair an pulled me up. They stood us in a line. Amanda was off to the side, her lips twisted in a perfect smirk. Her eyes were on the leach in the middle. He had a short crew cut, and was smaller than the others. But, for some reason, he looked even more threatening. Just like a bad person, I guess.  
Some one stepped forward.  
Nessie. I realized with a horror. Or rather, the vampire that had a hold of her. She really didn t have to much choice in the matter. I didn t notice that I was leaning forward, trying unconsiously to get to her until the leach that had me pulled me harshly back. I bit my lip, holding back a cry.  
"I ll start with you." The leach in the center said. "You should be harder than the others, but much more fun." He laughed, a shrill, cold blooded sound. "You're more valuable, you see. You need to be done first."

More valuable. Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Bella, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Jacob. So many people's lives would be over if anything happened... too many people needed her more than it was supposed to be possible. There was so much damage to be done in that one life.  
Embry. That was it for me. Sure, I cared about him more than I did all the others together, but if I looked at it objectively, he was just one life. The one life that was so throuoghly entertwined with mine, one life that depended entirely in myself. If I ended, so wold he. But hey, we d be going to a heck of a lot better place than this. And Nessie was so much more needed.  
"It really surprised me." The leach was now saying as he circled Renessmee.

I struggled again. That was my best friend, I would be damned if I let anything happen to her without a fight.

"The way these wolves depend on all of you. For a group so seemingly indistructable, it seemes rather weak."

Hah! My chance.

"They re stronger than you ll ever be, bloodsucker," I snarled, thrashing wildly in the unmoving arms of my irritated, yet rather amused captor.

Irritated, yet amused. Story of my life.  
The leach turned away from Renesmee, taking a step towards me. Then another. Then another, untill we were face-to-face. "I have a job to do." He told me. "But I think I can make one quick exception."

I didn t have time to see. He was too fast, it would have been a blur even if I d been looking. But I hadn t been. I was looking at my friends. Nessie screaming and thrashing much like I had been moments before, trying to get loose. I could see, in just that fleeting moment that she would have given herself up for me in a second.  
Well, good. I didn t want to be shooting myself-well, the equivelent of-for some one who wouldn t do the same for me.  
And behind her. The walls of the old place were knocked down by another vampire. But this one, I had seen before. His curly red hair flew behind him like fire. Also just behind him:  
An army-there really wasn t any other way to describe it-of wolves.  
Then, of course, the leeches fist connected with my head. The leach holding me let go, I flew back, hitting my head on the opposite wall. I didn t even have time to feel the pain. It just all went black.

Embry s POV

Heath irritated me. Don t ask me why. I don t know. At first I thought it was just because he was a bloodsucker. But then I realized that that was not the case. For one thing, had I had to choose between having to do what Heath said, and having to do what Rose said, I would have chose the latter. And trust me, that was saying something. After seeing Rosalie through Jacob s eyes for four years, there wasn t much I disliked more.  
For another, it wasn t the usual defensive, instinct dislike that I felt for Heath. I just didn t like the guy. He was so calm about the whole thing. And his mate was there, too. Cathryn had told me all about Cocoa s little plan to follow in Bella s footsteps through Heath. Heath was in love with her. And, okay, admittedly not half as much as us werewolves were with our imprints but he should still have been freaking out. I mean, at least a little.  
But nothing. He just stood there all calmly until we had rounded up all the wolves and the Cullen s, conversing pleasantly with the other vampires while he waited. Not the behavior of anyone you would call desperate.  
And then there was the whole matter of having to follow him to Cathryn. How was I to know that he was going the absolute shortest way possible? As fast as he could? I didn t. For all I knew, he was leading us on a wild goose chance, delaying us so that we didn t get there until-

I didn t want to think about it.  
I tried to concentrate on this dislike as I followed him. It helped keep the fear and grief at bay. I had never actually tried not thinking about Cat before. It had never been necessary. But now, the more I thought about her, the weaker I, and the rest of the pack, became. The loss of our will, our trust that things were going to be all right. Because they were all gone.  
Again, poof.  
But if we pretended that it was just another patrol, just a minor battle we were going to fight, not our entire existence, then we could keep going. Oh, we still felt the pain. But we could ignore it. Put it in the back of our minds.  
At least until we arrived at the antique shop. The place where Heath said they d be. He also said that there was blond vampire, the one who had been doing the kidnapping, who could make herself and anyone surrounding her virtually invisible to vampires and werewolves. Oh, we could see them just fine. But we couldn't hear them. Couldn't smell them. Kind of like watching TV on mute. And when we got there, and right outside the building we still couldn t hear, smell or sense them in any way ....well, it was like they weren t even there.  
So you can understand why the lot of us panicked.  
We had busted the place down in a second flat. The Cullens and Heath and the unimprinted wolves went straight into battle, kicking any enemy butt they could find. The wolves that had imprinted searched for there imprints. And when they found that, to their joy, they were virtually unharmed-scared silly, yes, but physically fine-they themselves into the fray as well.  
All except me. Because Cathryn was most certainly not fine. She was across the room from everyone else, slumped against the wall. Her face... looking at it was like a stab through the chest. It was lifeless. Colorless, except for a thin trail of blood running from both nostrils.  
Wasn t that was happened when you got a really bad -like really bad- concussion?  
I ran over to her and nudged her with my nose. Because the vampire with the invisibility talent was otherwise occupied, I could now smell and hear her again. She had a pulse. She had a heartbeat. But both were uneven. Both were weak. Both were so faint that even with my enhanced senses, I could barely hear them.  
I nudged her again, harder this time in the desperation and panic I had thus far managed to avoid. Now though, it was coming in from all sides. I couldn t even think.  
All I have to say is, thank God Jake imprinted on Nessie.  
I tell you, the girl was my angel.  
She appeared by my side, her face streaked with tears. "I-I m s-s-o s-s-s-sorry." She sobbed, her small shoulders shaking. "I d-didn t want her to-I tried- "

But I wasn t actually that interested in how she got to the position she was in. I already knew the gist. Anyone who knew Cathryn would know. She got herself in trouble with that smart aleck mouth of hers, and this time it was deadly.  
Deadly.

I whimpered involuntarily, shying toward Cat. She couldn t die. She wouldn t do that to me.  
That was when Dr. Cullen appeared. "I know where a hospital is around here." He said calmly. "Nessie, Get on Embry s back and keep Cathryn on. I ll lead you there."

That was all the encouragement I needed. Three seconds later the four of us were already halfway there.


	7. Chapter 7

Cocoa's POV

Cathryn is such an idiot.

Not that this is something I wasn't aware of before. I just had always thought that she had more sense than _that. _Sense enough to know that Renesmee was strong enough to last against the vampires for a good twenty minutes, at least, where as Cathryn…well, you know. Would be lucky to make it past the first millisecond. Sense enough to know that the wolves were not going to sit around and watch basketball while their imprints were away. Sense enough to know that they were gonna show up soon.

But apparently I was the only girl whom those ideas occurred to. Maybe I'm just that smart.

Anyway, Cat had to go and piss off the vamp, being the idiot that she was, and get herself killed.

Seriously. I thought she had died. I saw her all slumped against the wall, and I was totally like, dang. Who's balcony am I supposed to stay on _now? _Even though I was basically seconds away from the same fate.

Especially since I was being held down by the only leach who wasn't completely devoted to the blond chic. Or, when the wolves arrived, intent on avenging the pain that had been inflicted on their loved ones and what not, my leach bit me. Like, right on the neck. And at first I was like, whoa, sexy. Because the guy was a vampire, you know? Not exactly hard on the eyes. It wasn't until a second later, when the wolves had distracted said vampire to the point where he just dropped me on the floor-I know, so rude-that it sank in.

I had been _bitten. _I was about to become a vampire. And I didn't even need to swear my undying love to Heath to do it. Not that he would have believed me, after our little spat.

I got about sixty seconds of elation before the pain kicked in, and I started burning.

And that burning? _So _not worth immortality.

Dr. Eugene Gilbert's POV

I was on the first floor, tending to a patient, when they arrived. I heard the commotion coming from the waiting room; I was merrily a few yards away. It was only natural that I come to investigate. Human instinct. And yet it was because of that instinct that I was told to be her doctor. I was betrayed by having emotion. Quite unfair, in my opinion. But what could I do? I had just gotten my degree. I had barely done anything yet. This was my chance to prove myself. I simply could not refuse.

Here is what happened:

"How are you feeling?" I asked kindly to the elderly woman I was tending to.

"Oh, all right, I suppose, Muriel." The woman relied with a wave of her hand. Poor bat was confused in the head.

But I nodded, going along with it.

That was when I heard Kay, the secretary. "Oh!" She cried, loudly enough to be heard from down the hall. "Oh my goodness! Here, I'll certainly-Doctor! We need a doctor!"

I exited the patient's room. She was doing fine, for now. And this…well, it did not sound good, to say the least.

It was the girl that I saw first. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks only from looking at her. Her skin was a smooth, pearly white. Her body long and slim. Admittedly not nearly as curvy as I would have preferred on a woman, but the rest of her was glorious enough for that to be overlooked. Her bronzy colored curls flowed around her head like a hallo, her large brown eyes wet with unshed tears. "Please." She whispered her voice musical even in distress. "Please help her."

That was when I noticed the other girl. She was a bit smaller than the first, and not in nearly as good shape. Her skin was every bit as pale as the first, though this, I suspected, was from lack of blood. She was unconscious. Her friend was half dragging, half carrying her. Her freckles stood out mightily against the pallor of her skin, her long red-brown hair that I suspected was rather pretty on usual circumstance was matted with the blood flowing from her nose and ears. Oh yes, this girl was ill. Very ill indeed.

"Sir?" A man prompted. He was tall and lean and blond. He reminded me of the first girl, for he too was unusually good looking. He put a hand on her back. My thoughts turned sour. Of course she would be dating _him. _No girl ever paid attention to anything but looks. They never noticed sense of humor, or intellect, or any useful characteristic any woman would be lucky to get in a man. No, it was all about physical appearance. Rather silly, really. Because when you thought about it, all that was was genes. DNA. Purely chance, and lost over aging.

I turned to find a nurse standing next to me with a gurney.

As the nurse strapped the girl into the gurney, the hospital doors swung open. In strided a man. He was very nearly as good-looking as the first, though in quite a different way. This one was tall, almost inhumanly so. Dark too, with black hair and red-brown skin. And not so lean. His well defined chest was bare, showing off an impressive eight-pack. His arms were those of which I had not seen since I was fourteen and watching wrestling. Blood flowed to my cheeks once more, but this time for a very different reason. This man was beyond intimidating.

He made his way easily over to me in three long strides.

"Cathryn." He said haltingly, as if he could not very well speak. Of course men who looked like that would have the IQ of a bunny rabbit. He reached out to the girl on the gurney, trailing his fingers down her cheek with unmistakable longing in his eyes before turning to me. He flipped his black shaggy hair out of his eyes so that they could bore into mine, the expression in them much less preferable to the desire in them moments before. They were threatening now, extremely so. I had never been given such a look in my life. I took a small step back. "Will she be okay?" He asked me.

"I'm not…sure," I hedged, cautiously, "but honesty, I haven't really gotten a chance to-"

"Then figure it out." He growled, cutting me off rudely. "Save her." The last two words were not a request.

I nodded, feeing my Adam's apple bob up and down nervously.

The rest of the evening past quickly, in a blur. The only part I truly remember was putting Cathryn in a hospital gown. I had to undress her to do it.

Now, I can't honestly tell you that I had a lot of experience in judging what was good and what was not. It was my first real sighting of bare breasts. I can only tell you that they were large. And that she was beautiful, and that I now did not blame the frightening young man for wanting her…_active _once again.

Said young man stood with the girl and the blond man, all three leaning against the wall with their arms crossed over their chests.

It wasn't until I came out of her ward, rubbing my eyes sleepily, that I had to interact with him again. Cathryn had been hooked up and looked over, and now, I knew, he would be expecting some information.

I was correct. "Well?" he demanded, taking a step forward. He was too close.

I looked up and pushed my glasses further up my nose. "I'm sorry, sir." I mumbled, not looking at him and trying to keep my voice from shaking. "But I cannot tell you anything unless I have proof that you are family, spouse, or legal-"

That was as far as I got before I was pinned against the wall by my neck, my feet dangling a foot two feet off the ground. And the man wasn't even using both _hands. _

"Tell. Me." His voice was low and threatening. He inclined his head towards me until we were nose to nose. I felt a shiver run down my pine as I read the expression on his face.

This man would, quite literally, kill me.

I nodded jerkily, unable to speak due to lack of air.

He dropped me. I sank down against the wall, breathing heavily.

"What?" He demanded.

"Sir!" I gasped. "Please! I would like to tell you-no! I really would, believe me- but I must know…at least let me know that you care for her." I braced myself for the pain.

But none came. Instead, there was only silence. I looked up timidly. His arms were crossed over his chest again. He was not looking at me. He was looking over me, into the window of Cathryn's room. "She's my life." He said gruffly, not bothering to look back down. "I need to know if she's going to be okay." Now he looked back down. In his eyes, I saw something I never thought I would see in a man of his girth.

Fear.

I surprised myself by being sorry when I said the words that came out of my mouth next. "Sir…she'll be lucky if she even makes it through the night." I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat. "The concussion is one of such extreme-" I started to explain, but he didn't stick around to hear it. As I observed before, he didn't seem to be the most intellectual fellow. Brains didn't spend that much time in the gym. Quite likely he wouldn't understand.

No, instead he went inside her room and knelt beside her bed, leaning against it. Gently, he took one of her small hands in his. With the other hand he stroked her hair. Tenderly, slowly. His expression was unreadable, his eyes were dry.

It was the expression of a dead man.

Quil's POV

Claire wanted to see Cathryn. Apparently, the distraction of the sight of a pack of wolves ripping her kidnappers limb from limb was not enough. Embry, Nessie, and Carlisle whisking Cat's broken body to the hospital had not gone unnoticed in Claire's eyes. And as soon as the fight was over and we phased back to human to see if our imprints were okay, Claire demanded to see her.

Now. There are a number of reasons why I could not deny her this. Her eyes, for example. They were just so _big. _Big and beautiful and glistening with unshed tears. You can't say no to those eyes. Plus, she is so shy, so quiet, she never demands anything. She really wanted this. And, wrapped around her adorable little finger as I was, I had to give her what she wanted. And Jacob was dying to get to the hospital anyway. Nessie was with them. He needed to see her.

But the biggest, the most important reason was this:

As soon as Claire mentioned Cat, the other imprints remembered, too. And believe me, unless you were there in that newly-destroyed antique shop, you don't know the meaning of tantrum.

Seriously. I didn't know there were that many tears in the world.

The imprints banded together, and within about ten minutes of kisses, begging, and crocodile tears, were riding on our backs to see Cathryn.

We didn't ask the receptionist where to find them. We could smell all three of them, hear two of their heartbeats. Carlisle, obviously, didn't have one, and Cathryn…I really didn't want to think about it.

Anyway, we had no trouble at all finding Cathryn's ward.

Jacob pushed ahead and opened the door without asking any of the nurses' permission. Nor did he show that he had heard when one of them protested. He just barged in and went to Nessie, who then threw her arms around his neck, weeping violently. She kept wailing something about how it was 'all her fault'.

Oh yeah. Definitely Bella's child.

It wasn't until Claire started struggling to get out of my arms that I saw them.

Why do I say 'them', you ask?

Because I honestly don't know who looked worse.

On one hand, there was Cathryn, hooked up to a venilator and an IV and a feeding tube and a bunch of other crap I couldn't identify, laying unconsious on the hospital bed.

On the other, there was Embry, sitting against said hospital bed. His face was a sallow green color beneath the russet. He had one arm running along the length of the bed, touching as much of her as possible. His head was resting on the cot against her shoulder. He looked up slowly as Claire scampered over to Cathryn.

Our eyes met.

In a flash, I remembered seeing Bella that night in the woods when Edward left her. All broken, almost literally in pieces. An image that haunted Sam still to this day. I remembered Edward, when he thought Nessie would kill Bella. The burning, the torture that haunted Jacob. Embry had that same look. The agony in his eyes was of such quantity it was unfathomable. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it felt like.

I tried to remember Billy's legends. What had he said happened to a werewolf when he lost his imprint?

It didn't happen often. Us wolves to were too paranoid to let our girls near much. But when it did, usually we destroyed the culprit of her death the way it had destroyed us. Then we threw ourselves under a bus, or found some other form of suicide that actually worked on a werewolf. Or we went wolf. We went wolf and traveled deep into the woods, where we died a few days later from shock and greif.

Nice, right? Definitely a fate I wanted for my best friend.

I looked way, back to Claire. I didn't want to have to think about his pain, lovely as it was.

"Kitty?" She asked, her small voice quivering slightly as she took in her present state. "Cathryn!" She nudged her arms, jostling the vinelator.

Embry abruptly turned back to the bed. The arm that wasn't touching Cathryn flew out towards Claire, pushing her harshly away. She stumbled back, falling against my legs.

"Stay away from her." He growled. Growled. At a _seven year old. _He looked scary when he did it, too. Like the werewolves you see in movies. A monster.

I watched as Claire's eyes slowly filled up with tears.

You know what happened next, right? I mean, I can understand Embry being in a bad mood, and all, but I have my own imprint to worry about.

Unfortunately, Embry and I did not get the chance to beat the crap out of each other, as I'm sure both of us needed to do at the moment. Because that was when Jacob, high and mighty alpha that he is, intervened.

"Lay off, guys," He commanded. And yes, I mean alpha commanded.

Stupid pack lineage.

Embry stared at him. For a second, the torment in his eyes receded, leaving a grim determination. He stood up slowly and walked out of the room. "Jake, Quil." He called over his shoulder casually. "You coming?"

Like we were headed to a soccer game, or something. I swear, he is so weird.

Nevertheless, Jake and I were both curious as to what possibly could have torn him away from his precious Kitty for even a moment, so we followed.

He lead us down to the first floor and out into the darkness. The he circled around to the back, walking until he was directly behind it and there was nothing was the back of the hospital and the brick of some other building a few feet away that could see what he was about to do. He is weird, but he's smart, I'll give him that. He knew that if anybody heard what he was going to say to us, he'd be checked in to an insane asylum.

Actually, I'm surprised he thought that Jacob and I wouldn't. Believe me, after he was done with us, we were seriously considering.

He pivoted, facing us. The pain in his face was a thousand times more defined now that Cat wasn't around to keep it at bay. I kid you not, I looked into his eyes and thought of cemeteries. Cemeteries and black holes and blood. And anything else I may or may not have been afraid of as a little kid.

"She's going to die." He choked. His voice sounded as bad as his face looked. Poor guy was dying already.

"Nah." Jacob said quickly. "I mean, it was just a concussion-"

"No." Embry cut him off. "It caused bleeding. In her head. The doc says she'll be lucky if she makes it through-" He checked his watch. As he looked, the anguish receded again, this time chased away by naked panick. "Its four am." He muttered to himself. "She'll be lucky if she makes it a few more _hours." _

"Damn." Jake said. "Nessie's going to freak. She says it was her fault. That she should've-"

"She should have!" Embry interrupted. "We were _right there, _she could have taken that one blow, no problem!"

Jacob clenched his jaw. Obviously, he disagreed. But he didn't say anything.

"What did you want?" I asked, trying to distract them.

Embry took a deep breath and stared fixedly at the ground. "You won't like it," He warned us.

"Of course we won't." Jacob muttered.

Embry ignored this. "Obviously, once Cat's gone, I'll be following her as soon as I can." He began.

I felt a lump the size of a bowling ball form in my stomach. I thought I knew where this was going.

"I don't know…I don't know how to do it. Kill myself, I mean. We heal so fast." He shook his head angrily.

Yes, Embry. Indestructibility is such a burden.

"Look, I'm not asking you guys to do it. Just make sure some one else does, okay?"

Jacob's eyes widened. He hadn't expected this, even if I had. He staggered back a few steps, as if backing away would ward off the request somehow."No." He said flatly.

"Yeah, man." I agreed quickly. "We can't-I mean-" I grasped at straws, not knowing what to say. How you explain to your best friend that you're not going to kill them? I mean, honestly. How many friends, in the history of the world, have had to tell some one something like that?

Embry nodded, seeming to expect this. "You would want me to do the same for you." He said evenly.

Well, he had me there. There was no way in hell I'd go on living if anything happened to Claire.

However, a stampede of rampaging buffalos could not drag this truth from my lips.

But I couldn't deny it either. So I did what any other guy does, when faced with something he does not want to confront.

I changed the subject.

"You know Heath has healing powers." I blurted.

Embry looked up. "What?" He asked me.

I nodded. "He could totally save Cathryn. But he won't cause his girlfriend got bit and he wants to be with her through the transformation."

Needless to say, this had the desired effect. Embry was off, into the woods before any of us could say another word, off to kick some vampire butt.

Jacob turned to me, his expression sarcastic. "Way to go, buddy." He said. "Our best friend's gonna die less than twenty four hours after committing a murder. That'll get him into heaven for sure."

**Author's Not: Hi, everybody!!! Yeah, you may have noticed the different points of veiw as opposed to the usual embry-cathryn...I couldn't write it in Cat's as she was unconsious, and I didn't want to write it in Embry's. A girl can only write worry and heartache for so long, you know? Anyways, I'm thinking about doing it some more in later books, so tell me whether you like it or not... and if you don't care, reveiw anyways. REVEIW REVEIW REVEIW!**


	8. Chapter 8

Embry's POV

I didn't give him a chance to explain. I didn't ask any questions. I didn't drag him back to the hospital by the scruff of his slimy neck and demand that he heal Cathryn. I didn't have enough hope left for that. Instead, I just went back to the antique shop where, sure enough , Heath was. Crouched above the body of Cocoa, writhing and twisting in agony that I had a very hard time believing was more pronounced than my own.

Then I ripped him up. Limb from limb. Heath might have tried to fight back. But I was too angry, too pained to notice. My gut was stronger than his, regardless of whether or not I was better than him physically. Then I left. Heath would, I was sure, put himself back together in that disgusting vampire way of his. I didn't care. In fact, I hoped he did. Then, maybe I'd get to do it again.

You know, before I shot myself through the head. And the chest. And the stomach. Let's see my werewolf powers heal all _that. _

Mark's POV

I was just out of practice when I got the phone call. I didn't know who it was from, the caller ID didn't recognize it. I figured it was my girlfriend. She, being the irresponsible slut that she was, was probably using the pay phone outside a bar or something, and needed me to pick her up. I kept meaning to dump her….

Or maybe my step mom. Cassie. Calling from her office, using a colleague's phone. She was kind of over protective, and sometimes called without warning. It used to annoy me. You know, what with her not being my real mother and all. I wasn't sure she had the right. Especially when we lived in Florida. I kind of hated her then. Now, though, I was used to it.

"Hello?" I drawled, sleepy from studying and basketball.

"Mark." Came the short reply.

Embry. I would recognise the voice anywhere. It was so husky, so deep. And also kind of smooth, easy going. Dangerous. It sounded just like the person looked.

I thought about hanging up. I really did. Embry was this over tall, over muscled, over paid mechanic-chemical engineer, but what was the difference? Aside from the thousands more dollars one got-who had turned my baby sister into arm candy.

Step sister, I mean. But we were so much more alike, got along so much better than with my biological sister, Lizzie, it was easy to get them confused.

The two of them had been going out in secret. I don't know how long, but probably a while. I had looked out of my bedroom window one night over holidays, and seen her sneaking out through her balcony, jumping into his ready arms when she got low enough.

I hated him even before then, but this was crossing the line. But I hadn't told anybody. God knows why. My Dad always gets bent out of shape about the fights I get in, but I actually think I'm passive-aggressive. At least I am with guys twice my size.

Anyway, I hadn't confronted Cat about it, or anybody else, but that didn't stop me from hating everything about him. Especially the way he looked at Cat. Sort of hungrily, like he was imagining her naked. Or like he could read her mind, or something. It was creepy.

I sighed, wondering vaguely what to say. Finally, I settled for an aggressive, "Whadya want?" I had never been the tactful sort.

Embry ignored the rudeness, much to my chagrin. "Your parents and Lizzie are on your way to pick you up." He said shortly. For once, he wasn't polite, careful with me. Like he had always been like in the past. Like I knew about him and Cathryn. Now though, his voice held no emotion. "Cathryn fell on the rocks cliff diving."

My breath caught in my throat. Fell Cliff diving? That could mean so many things. "Did she drown?" I asked hoarsly.

"No." He replied. "She hit her head on the way down. Jake was with her, so he got her out of the water, but….She's not doing so good." At those last words, the expressionless façade leaked away a little, and I could hear the despair in it.

Well, good. He was the one who'd gotten her into stuff like that. He should feel guilty.

"Kay." I said. I was surprised to hear that my voice had the same numb tint to it as Embry's. "Bye."

Embry hung up.

I jogged back to my dorm as quickly as possible. I got out my duffel bag and threw anything I could find in there, just taking out whole drawers and dumping the contents inside without knowing what they contained. I wouldn't be back here for awhile, especially if anything happened to Cat.

Much as I tried to keep my mind off it, I slowly started realizing all the things that could do to her from just that one fall.

Death, obviously. The one we really didn't want. But there were others.

Amnesia.

Parelized.

Broken bones.

Even scaring was something to be worried about. If it was bad enough, it could ruin her whole life. Cause suicide, even. Though I was pretty sure Cat was tougher than that.

I heard a horn beeping from outside my room. I wrenched open the door and ran out, throwing my bag over my shoulder.

My parents were here

Claire's POV

Kitty looked scary. She was real pale, like Nessie, only on her it wasn't beautiful. She looked sick. And the doctor had put all these needles in her, that connected to tubes that connected to big machines that beeped and showed strange red lines.

Everybody else looked scary, too. Nobody would talk when I was around. They just gave me a funny look, like just because I was young I wouldn't notice, and then they went out in the hall to say it. I could never hear what it was that they said, but when they said it their voices were always low and quick and they kept glancing at Kitty through the glass.

Quil tried to distract me. He asked me how wasn't I glad that I was back away from the vampires now. We played eye spy. And twenty questions. And he tried to get me to agree to go back home, but I wouldn't. I wanted to see what happened. Especially when Kitty's family showed up. The doctor talker to them for a few minutes, and then Kitty's mommy started crying. And Mark's face got real white, and Kitty's daddy shook his head real slow before putting it in his hands, like my daddy always does when Mommy spends too much on her credit card. Lizzie started crying too, but I didn't care about that as much. I didn't like Lizzie. I don't really think anybody did.

After awhile, my eyes started getting heavy and Quil called my parents and talked to them for a while. Then him and Jacob and Nessie took me to a motel and we went to sleep for a long time, even though it was light out. When we woke up, it was dark again. I liked the motel. I liked all motels; it was what we stayed at when we went on vacation. Quil said this was like kind of a vacation. But I wasn't sure I believed him. Something wasn't right with his smile when he said it.

There had been something wrong with everybody's smile lately.

Maybe that's why I had the feeling that something very bad was going to happen.

Cocoa's POV

The fire was receding. Just barley, I couldn't even tell it unless I concentrated hard. But it was ending, just at the tips of my fingers and toes. Too bad. I had kind of begun to enjoy the fire, in a freaky, twisted kind of way.

Cathryn's POV

The black was coming back.

I'd been battling it for such a long time, it seemed like I always had been. I honestly couldn't remember anything but the itchiness of the cot, the paper of the gown, the vague pain of the needles, the irritating beeping. The black. Sometimes it was easier to fight than others. Sometimes I could feel Embry, could hear his voice. Then I could remember why I wasn't supposed to let the black win.

But a girl can only daydream about her boyfriend for so long.

And it was coming back. A fresh wave of it, stronger and bigger than any of the others. I barely had time to register the conflicted cries of fear form the people surrounding me before it beat me.

Pathetic, right? I had always thought that it would take a little ore than a bump on the head to finish me. Especially if I had all the people I loved around me, to distract me from the pain and give me will to fight against it.

Apparently not.

Oh, wait. The dark was ending. Why was it ending? I wasn't trying to stop it now. I wasn't feeling any pain. No needles, no bed. But it kept receding, giving itself over to a faint glow of light, that started out as just a teeny glimmer, like the shadow of a candle, but then growing. Both in size and in strength until it was absolutely blinding.

Suddenly, I couldn't remember it anymore. Nothing. I couldn't think, couldn't feel. All I could fathom was the light. The light, and the gates. Golden gates, gorgeous gates, intricately carved, running on either side as far as I could see.

I didn't know much about them. Or anything, really. All I knew was that I wanted over them. I wanted on the other side, and bad. I reached for them.

Suddenly, two men appeared on the other side. One of them was kind of old looking, tall and gangly with brown eyes and red brown hair. My red brown hair. My father.

Despite the fact that I hadn't seen the man in forever, I didn't really care too much that he was there. He was just some insignificant, detail, a side note compared to the man next to him.

I can't explain to you what he looked like. Only that he was more beautiful, more glorious than anything I'd ever seen before. Larger than life. Bigger and better than anything I could begin to fathom.

Without skipping a beat, without saying a word, I fell to my knees, bowing before him.

However, this was not what he seemed to want. Because almost immediately he said, "Rise, my child." His voice was deep and magestic and wonderful. I would do anything for that voice. I stood back up.

"You must go back." He told me.

Well, I'd do almost anything.

"I don't want to." I said. "It hurts there. And I want to be on the other side. With you."

"But there is some one back there who still needs you." He said.

I tried to remember some one, any one, from the past. And I couldn't, absentminded little idiot that I was. Still, I could feel a sense of pulling. Something, perfect as it seemed, wasn't right. I looked up at him. "I have to go back?" I asked in a small voice.

He smiled. "I'll be waiting for you both. You are meant to cross over together."

I nodded a little unwillingly. I still didn't want to go back.

But go back I did, and this time there was no darkness. Only a whole bunch of panicked screams. And cries. I couldn't even pick Embry's voice from among them. But whatever, I was back. I'd done what God told me to.

Where was my gold star?


	9. Chapter 9

Embry's POV

I traced the lines on the palm of Cathryn's hand for the umpteenth time, wondering idly how long I could last like this without sleep. The rest of the pack had already gone home or gotten rooms, despite the fact we were only an hour away. They wanted to be here. Just in case. Cathryn's family had gotten rooms as well, though her mother never bothered going. She, like me, was living at the hospital, skipping out on meals and sleep. But she'd only gotten here two days ago. I'd been here for seven days, and gotten maybe ten hours of sleep the entire time. Right now, so was everybody else was here too. But they weren't always.

I couldn't risk being away from her. If something happened and I wasn't around…I was not willing to miss out on those last few moments with her. Or her body, at least. Cat had been as asleep as I had been awake over this past week. Totally comatose. Not a very encouraging sign.

Still though, I could not ignore the fact that my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier with each tick of the second hand. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to find the will to lift my head from the bedside and at least pretend to have some energy.

I glanced up, looking for a brother. I needed to make sure somebody would wake me up in an hour or so. But I got sidetracked.

There was something different. Just now, this past second, something had changed. I sat up abruptly, listening for Cathryn's pulse. For the steady beating of the monitor.

But I couldn't hear. Not any of it.

Her heart had stopped beating.

"Hey!" I yelled, jumping up. "Somebody get the-she-" I struggled to find words.

Thankfully though, they weren't needed. That one cry had been enough. Everything became chaos all at once. Carlisle and the doctor and the nurses crowded around her, pressing something to her chest. I couldn't see what it was. Because about fifty pairs of arms were restraining me, pulling my resistant body away from her. I struggled, suddenly terrified. I _couldn't see her. _Some of the arms were hard and white and cold. The voices that belonged to those arms murmured soothing words, even as they fought against me. Others were copper colored and muscular and the only touches that did not feel cool on my burning skin. They didn't bother speaking. They knew it wouldn't help.

Because what I wanted to do in my head didn't seem to matter. I knew intellectually that I needed to back off, to calm down and let everyone focus on her. My struggling wasn't going to help her. But my body didn't pay attention to that. My body just wanted, desperately, her.

Always her.

The doctor pressed the things to her chest again, leaning his whole weight on it. I pulled and yanked harder, crying out. He could hurt her.

And I was right. As he pressed them down, Cathryn's torso convulsed, arching up off the bed, while the rest of her hung limp.

I started screaming. I couldn't really tell you what I said, just that it was loud. And that it wasn't clean.

The pack and the Cullens staggered forward a step as I threw myself at the doctors. Had every cell in my body not been focused completely on Cathryn, I would have been pleased with myself. It took some serious strength to overpower nine werewolves and a handful of vampires. But, of course, I wasn't. I wasn't feeling anything. Not even fear or love or any of the rational emotions I should have been feeling. Probably the work of Jasper, trying to make this as pain-free as it could be.

As if that were possible.

Suddenly, I froze. So did everyone else, save from the werewolves and vampires pulling me. They took advantage of my motionless and managed to drag me back a few more steps. Aside from their grunts, it was completely silent. My heart slowly sank. Maybe I had imagined it.

No. There it was again. The monitor. It beeped. Twice.

Three times.

Four times.

The hands released me, and I fell forward, literally on my knees at Cathryn's feet. I didn't bother standing up. I don't think I could if I tried.

Cathryn was breathing.

We spent the next ten or so minutes concentrating very hard on Cathryn's heart beats.

"Alice?" Renessmee asked cautiously.

Alice beamed, looking at me instead of Nessie. "I can't see a thing." She told me.

It took a minute for me to work out what she meant by that. But then I realized: her future was back to intertwining with my own.

She was going to be okay.

"Hell yeah!" Quil whooped, apparently having worked that out around the same time I had. He threw a giggling Claire over his shoulder and left the room, practically skipping. "Come on, Claire-bear. We gotta call your parents and tell them that they don't need to get a new babysitter after all!"

"Thank God." Nessie choked, her eyes spilling over. She'd been nearly as stressed out about the whole thing as me. Survivor's guilt, you know. She walked swiftly to Bella. Edward smiled and wrapped his arms around the both of them.

"Could some one please tell us what is going on here?" Bob asked. He and the rest of Cathryn's family was off in a corner, wearing rather stunned expression's on their faces. Thankfully, none of them seemed to keen on demanding too many details.

"Cat's going to be okay." Drew said, grinning.

"Oh." Cassie pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes welling up with tears. Mark leaned back, exhaling. He was really starting to grow on me.

His sister, however, was a different story. "Yeeeeeh!!!!" She sqealed, jumping up and down, baby clapping. Jacob rolled his eyes and the two of us shared a disgusted look.

For once, Rosalie seemed to agree with us. "Your sister is going to live, idiot." She muttered, to quietly for her to hear. "There's no sale at Macy's."

Emmett laughed and slapped her bracingly on the back. Rosalie glared at him. "Aww, lighten up, Rosie!" He told her.

Doctor Gilbert just gaped at us. Sweat was rolling down his spammy forehead, and his hands were shaking. I chuckled to myself. Poor guy really wasn't cut out to take care of a bunch of mythical creatures.

"Hey Doc?" Seth asked, a little hesitantly.

"Yes Seth?"

"Is Cat really going to be okay?"

We all stopped and looked at him, waiting for a confirmation.

He took his time giving one. "Well," He said finally. "I honestly didn't think she'd make it this far. But now…juts feel her pulse. It's so strong. I'd say its all up to her at this point, really."

Brady smirked. "In that case, we've got this thing in the bag."

"Yeah." Leslie agreed. "Cat's no wuss. I knew she'd fight this."

"You weren't that confident last night." Collin reminded her. "You and Keilly were inconsolable, remember?"

"Yeah well, that was last night." Leslie replied, waving him off.

"Whatever." Leah said, scooping up Nate in her arms. "I'm more worried about Embry. I mean, look at him" She gestured towards me.

I wondered vaguely how I must look right now. Thinner than usual, probably. Just because I'd stopped eating didn't mean my metabolism had slowed. My muscles probably looked unhealthy. As did my eyes, under which I was sure were about a million bags. I was kneeling at the foot of Cathryn's bed too, which probably didn't help matters much.

"You're right." Rachel observed. "He looks like hell."

Jacob snorted.

"Thank you Rachel." I told her.

"Seriously though, man, you need sleep." Jared said, looking worried.

"Yeah." Emily nodded. "Here." She tossed me a small card. "This is the key to mine and Nate's and Sam's and Leah's hotel room. Go take a nap."

I raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. Surely she didn't think I was going to leave. Not yet, anyway. Cathryn's condition was still so fragile….I looked back at her wistfully.

"Oh chill!" Paul said disgustedly, reading my expression. "We won't let anything happen to your girl over there."

"We promise." Kim added.

"I don't." Leah said, grinning mischievously. I threw some sort of metal instrument at her, which she easily caught.

"You really do need sleep, Embry." Bella said.

"Well people in hell need ice water." I retorted.

We went on bantering like this for quite awhile, until the argument was ended by my falling asleep right there, my head on Cat's bed. The others must have decided o settle for that, because nobody woke me. Something that I would later come to greatly resent because of what I would miss.

Nurse Mandy Jordan's POV

"Cathryn's awake."

Those were the words the secretary greeted me with when I arrived at ten forty-five for my night shift at the hospital. Normally, Kay wouldn't bother telling some one about this, but I, as her best friend, was privy to bits of information such as this. The two of us, ever since her arrival, had taken a great interest in her. I mean, how could we not? We are young single women. She was being flocked by abo0ut twenty beautiful men. We had to investigate.

Of course, we found out after about a day of asking around with the other employees that all of them were taken. Every. Single. One.

Although personally, there is one that I thought I could snag. His name was Jared. We had had about a three second conversation the previous night, back when Cathryn was still asleep and uninteresting.

And, Okay, he was asking me where the bathroom was, but still. His girl was very…not ugly, exactly. She had an interesting face. It just wasn't pretty. And certainly not up to his standards.

Not that I am. But I figured that if he'll go out with her, than he must be one of the few beautiful men in the world that had no idea that that was what they were.

Anyways, the more I watched Cathryn and her visitors, the more entranced I became.

For one, some of the beautiful men and their girlfriends were even odder than the others. Ice white skin. Golden eyes. Perfection in every inch. An odd refusal to go inside of Cathryn's room. Instead, they preferred to stand in the floor's waiting room, Cathryn's hospital room open so that they could talk to the also-gorgeous-but-admittedly-in-a-more-usual-way Native American men. And _their _girlfriends. The thing about them was that they were completely normal looking. I mean sure, a lot of them were pretty, Cathryn amongst them. A few you could even call beautiful. But nothing jaw dropping. Except for the one whom they called Emily. Poor girl was terribly scarred.

And the way Embry-her boyfriend-cared for her. The way he looked at her…lets just say I'd trade my right arm for a guy to look at me like that. I don't even care what he'd look like. Any physical deformities could be easily made up for with that look. It reminded me of the way my sixteen year old brother looked at his car when he got it for his birthday. The way my mother looked at a dove chocolate bar. The way Kay and I would sit around when we were younger imagining what Romeo looked at Juliet like.

And Cathryn's actual family?

Yeah. They didn't have a clue. You could _so _tell. I didn't know what happened to Cathryn, when it happened, or whose fault it was. I didn't care. I just knew that it wasn't the cliff-diving crap they were feeding her woefully ignorant mother and father. If it was, then her lungs would have been filled with water and she would have been wet from when she fell in. Or, if she hadn't made it that far, she would have cuts and bruises ravaging her whole body from the impact with the racks. And she didn't have that either.

But it wasn't us medical people's business, so we never said anything.

The point to all this is so you can understand why, when Kay greeted me with this news, I changed into my uniform as quickly as humanly possible-shocking my boss, as my movements were usually sluggish and fraught with complaints-and raced up to her room.

And was greeted by a wonderland.

Seriously. It was every child's dream. Minus the whole hospital bit. And a giant teenage guy sleeping at the foot of your bed. That was more a teenage girl's dream, not a child's. But still. You get my point. The entire place was surrounded by board games. Board games and DVD's and books. There was a laptop plugged into an empty outlet, and in another was a portable DVD player.

"Oh My God." I said.

Cathryn looked up. "Oh, hey!" She said. "Thank God you're here. Everybody has left me. Except for Embry, but what use is he? He's asleep."

"Who got you all this?" I asked in wonderment.

Cathryn looked around. "Well," She started. "the DVD player and the DVD's are from Kim, Rachel, Leslie, and Keilly." She gestured to the stack of movies next to the DVD player. Orphan, Bride Wars, Obsessed, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Blood and Chocolate, Pride and Prejudice, the Unborn, Julie-Julia, Fifty First Dates, and about a million more. "And the games are from Quil, Claire, Leah, Seth, Emmett, Jared, Paul, Brady, Drew, and Jacob." She didn't bother gesturing this time. The games were _everywhere. _"The laptop is from Carlisle, Jasper, and Edward. The books are from Renessmee and Bella." She sighed sadly. "It was a good effort, I guess, but seriously, why would I read when I have all this I can do instead?" She didn't bother waiting for my answer. "It is better than what Collin got me." She muttered, eyeing a bunch of papers at her feet. They looked like they were the only things in the room than hadn't been touched. "Homework. Not his fault I guess, teachers tracked him down. But still. I'd have thought he would have burned them for me." I snorted at this. I couldn't help it.

"And the food," She said grandly, throwing an arm out dramatically to the counter, where there once had been medical tools, but now were a bunch of pans covered with tin foil and bags of candy. "Is from Emily, Sue, and Esme." Then she seemed to remember something. "Rosalie and Alice got me something to." She informed me, her green eyes rolling. "A new wardrobe. But that is at home, waiting for me to destroy. Don't tell them I said that though. They're very proud of themselves, and Edward and Jasper are bribing me to be nice about it."

"Nice." Was all I could manage. I couldn't seem to get my eyes to stop gravitating towards the dishes of desert.

"Dieting?" Cathryn nodded understandingly. "Me too. I gotta look like a super model if I want to look like I belong with this guy." She smiled affectionately at the sleeping form. She nudged him with his foot. "it is a shame though. That stuff looks really good."

"Oh, but you _can _eat that stuff." I told her. "You haven't eaten real food in about a week. That takes its tole. We weighed you the other day, and you've lost fifteen pounds."

"Really?" Cathryn looked ecstatic. She looked down at herself. "Oh Wow." She said in disgusted surprise. "I have. I look awful." She poked at her ribs, prominent even under the blankets. "Hand me something with chocolate in it, would you?" Her grin widened. "I have to gain at least ten of these pounds back before Embry wakes up. "If he sees me looking like this, he'll freak."

I handed her one of the pans, taking the tinfoil off for her. I didn't blame Embry for worrying. She'd been a tiny little thing to begin with. Now, though, her skin looked pallid. Her eyes, nose, and lips looks huge on a face with no fat. You could nearly count the bones in her hands. How she had not noticed all this before was totally beyond me."I'll get you a fork from the cafeteria if you want it." I offered.

"Sure." She said easily. "First though, Could you put on a movie for me? I know you'll have to leave here eventually, you've got other patients, but come back as often as you can, and you can see some of it."

"Okay." I agreed, picking up Pride and Prejudice.

"No." She said quickly. "Not that. Not sappy."

Not sappy?

I gaped at her for a short moment before moving my had to Julie and Julia and putting that on before leaving to retrieve her fork.

Embry's POV

The bed was empty. That was the first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes. The hospital bed sheets were made up, her smell on them distant. My heart lurched, and I looked around quickly, searching for her face. Jake, Emily, Sam, Leah, Nate, Keilly, Seth, Collin, Leslie. Edward, Bella, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie. Mark and Cassie.

No Cathryn.

You can understand how that could have freaked me out a little, right? Okay, yeah, Alice said she'd be all right. But Alice had been wrong before. And her sight on Cat was so hazy anyways, what with her future being so intertwined with my own. And I wasn't sure how long I'd slept, but it felt like a long time. A lot could have happened. Doctor Dork had been so sure she was going to die….

"She's fine." Edward interrupted my heart attack. "She got tired of lying around all day…all though we did our best to entertain her." He gestured around the room at all the mismatched games and movies. "After some convincing, the doctor let Nessie take her around the hospital for a bit."

Oh. Okay, then. For once, I was glad to have some one in my head. I got up and left the room quickly, tracing her scent to the top floor. I saw Nessie's copper curls at the end of the hall. She was pushing a wheelchair.

"Cat," I called, jogging up to them.

Nessie smiled. "I trust you can take care of her?" She asked, and turned the chair around, revealing the patient.

"Yeah," I mumbled, but my eyes were on Cathryn. She looked thinner and paler, but wide awake. She was sitting straight up in her chair, looking up at me with bright eyes. As soon as Nessie was gone, I took her in my arms, our lips molding and moving perfectly together for the first time in a week. A painfully long time for an imprinted werewolf. My tongue traced her lips, re-memorizing them. I'd been so worried about her that I'd forgotten to actually miss her. Even this part, the physical stuff. Now, feeling her arms around my neck, her heart beating next to mine, I felt better than I had in a long time.

I never thought I'd envy vampires, but I found myself doing just that a few seconds later. They didn't have to breathe. We, unfortunately, did. It was Cat that broke it off first, Turning her head to rest it against my shoulder, gasping a little. "Hey, you." She breathed.

I didn't waste my time with pleasantries. Cathryn had been, as was her tendency to be, an idiot. This time the consequence was more severe than usual, and she was crazy if she thought I wasn't going to give her crap for it.

"You," I said, breathing kind of unsteadily, "Are in huge trouble."

"Oh, yeah, I can see you're just furious." Cathryn said, amused.

"I pulled away and grabbed her shoulders, resting my forehead against hers so that we were eye-to-eye. "I'm serious." I told her. "Do you have any idea how freaked out I've been? How much you've scared me?"

Cathryn sighed, becoming serious for once. "I know."

"It was so stupid! Nessie would have been fine against him until we showed up. She wouldn't have had a scratch on her!"

"I said, I know." Cathryn said, this time a little annoyed. "Those were, like, the first words out of Nessie's mouth when I woke up."

"As they should have been." I told her.

Suddenly, Cathryn's expression changed. Her arrogant smirk became coy as her lips brushed seductively against mine. "I am sorry," She murmured, sneakily sliding her arms once more around my neck.

"You should be," I mumbled distractedly as she kissed me again. "Swear to me you'll never pull something like that again." I commanded, fighting to stay mad. It was a long lost battle.

"Cathryn. Promise me." I reluctantly pried myself away. "Please."

Cat scowled. "Fine." She muttered. "I promise."

"Thank you." I murmured, the last of my anger totally draining as I pulled her back to my chest.

"Whatever." Cathryn said, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

"I love you." I told her.

Cathryn snorted. "You had better. After all I've been through for you…I really should have left you ages ago."

"But you wouldn't." I said.

Silence.

"Would you?" Of course I didn't truly believe that she would, but my voice rose a little anyway.

She laughed. "I guess not…" I she said, pretending to look unsure.

I shook my head sadly. "You are so mean."

"Then why do you love me so much?" She countered.

"Good question." I admitted before leaning down and beginning our previous make out section where we left off.


	10. Chapter 10

Nessie's POV

Jasper came back from hunting looking distinctly ruffled. This was odd, seeing as he'd been hunting for the past nearly two-hundred years, even more often and more skillfully the others because of the wars he had been in and the self control problems he still had.

It was the self control, actually, that caused him to hunt in the first place. It had been two weeks, which was normally do-able for him, but we'd all basically been living at the hospital, dealing with round the clock temptations. Alice and Dad could both see that it was wearing on him, and they told him to get a deer or something. A totally normal routine.

And yet he came back looking so surprised. So worried. As soon as Dad read his thoughts he brought everyone-and I mean everyone, even the wolves-outside the hospital, out in the alley so that we could talk without being heard. I impatiently pressed a palm to Dad's cheek, asking him what was wrong, but he shook his head. So I turned to Jasper, a bit put out that they were making us all wait.

Fortunately, he began explaining a mere few seconds later.

"While hunting I…ran into some one." He said, running his fingers through his already tousled hair.

"Two some bodies." Alice grumbled. I felt another spark of irritation. What I wouldn't give to have a power that let me in on things others weren't privy to.

"Right." Jasper agreed. "It was Heath."

"Who is Heath?" I demanded.

"He's the leach-er, vampire-that lead us to you and he others. He was one of them." Jacob explained, putting an arm around my shoulders. I relaxed into him, wishing not for the first time that he and I were more than best friends.

I put my fingers to his neck. _You don't like him? _I guessed.

Jacob shook his head.

"So what happened with Heath?" Emmett asked.

I smiled. I had an ali in the ongoing information war. Me, Mom, and Emmett against Dad, Alice, and in this case Jasper.

Suddenly, I felt a lethargic calm wash over. Jasper's doing. Whatever he was about to tell us would frighten or anger us. Of course, this realization didn't upset me in the least.

Jasper took a deep breath. "He was hunting animals. And he was teaching Cocoa to do the same. Apparently she has been bitten. And…they want to join our coven."

"Oh, _hell _no." Embry snarled. Odd, that anger, as I was pretty sure Jasper had the calm going on him as well. Though he wasn't shaking, so maybe it _was _taking effect.

"I think we should." Emmett said cheerfully.

Rosalie slapped him.

"What?" He demanded, rubbing his arm. "I liked the guy. I mean, you know, aside from the whole took Nessie deal. But that wasn't his fault. Edward told us the Volturi forced him, remember?"

"Yeah!" Alice nodded enthusiastically. And if you guys hadn't given Jasper and I the benefit of the doubt, you'd all have been slaughtered when the Volturi got wind of Bella and Edward. Including you, dogs." She added.

"I think you should let them in, too." Collin said. "Annoying as she is, I think me…and Cat," He flicked a glance at Embry as he said this, "Would miss her if she was gone. And she'll be a lethal bloodsucker, trust me. She'd be a great person to have on our side, and a deadly enemy."

"Can she control herself when it comes to humans?" Mom asked nervously. "Like I could?"

"We don't know yet." Jasper told her. "But we think so. Apparently, Cocoa has been wishing for vampirism ever since she discovered their existence. So she should be prepared. But that's another thing," He continued. "Heath wanted to meet with us all, to test how she held up against the pack. And Nessie."

Jacob's arm tightened around me.

Which was how, about ten minutes later, we ended up in the middle of the woods, more or less begging to be killed.

"Come on, Cocoa." Collin said teasingly, dancing around in front of the newborn and spreading his arms wide. "Don't you want me?"

"Please." Cocoa wrinkled her newly perfect nose in distaste. "You smell gross."

"Well!" Brady huffed, pretending to look affronted.

"Insulting us really isn't the best way to get in with us, Cocoa." Jacob informed her.

"Like I need your permission to become a Cullen." She snapped. "You don't have a say in the matter."

"Are you saying you don't think the Cullens consider us family?" Seth asked, playfully elbowing my father to the side so that he could wrap his arms around mom, who smiled and gently shoved him away.

"Seriously? We need their approval too?" Cocoa demanded.

Carlisle shrugged.

"Ugh. In that case, we'll never get in." She told Heath. "Can't we just go around sucking up humans instead?"

"Sure, if you want to get ripped to pieces." Sam countered.

"Again." Embry added, giving Heath a pointed glare.

"I _am _sorry about that." He admitted.

"You are not forgiven." Embry informed him.

"Good grief Em, would you get over that already?" Jared asked, looking exasperated.

"Sure." Embry responded. "As soon as you get over the time Paul phased in front of Kim."

"That's different!" Jared protested. "He could have hurt her!"

"But I didn't." Paul pointed out.

"Whereas Heath did." Embry said.

"Nobody cares!" Sam snapped. "You have literally ripped Heath up, and Cathryn is going to be fine."

"Would you dogs shut up and focus on the issue at hand?" Rosalie demanded.

"Not if you want us to." Jake said.

"Jacob," I said warningly. I hated it when they fought.

"She started it!" Jacob protested.

"Oh, yeah." Rosalie said sarcastically. "I was the one who-"

"Guys!" Cocoa's voice over road Rose's. "Seriously, are we in or out?"

"Are you tempted at all by Nessie?" Mom asked.

Cocoa tilted her head to the side, deliberating. "Not really." She decided. "I mean, a little bit but…no."

"I say she's in!" Emmett declared.

"Surprise, surprise." Leah rolled her eyes to the sky.

"Well what do _you _say, Miss High-and-Mighty?"

"Definitely not. I can't handle any more leaches."

Emmett pressed a hand to his empty chest. "Wow. That hurt."

"I don't see why we shouldn't." Alice offered.

"And Heath's healing powers would be really useful." Jasper pointed out.

"Only if he decides to use them." Embry mumbled.

"Well I say yes." I said, looking up at Jacob.

"Me too." He said automatically.

"No Fair!" Embry said, sounding a little like a five year old. 'Ness controls Jake."

"Fine then." Rosalie said. "We'll ask Cat about it and see what she says."

"It'll be a yes." Brady said quickly. "Endangered life or not."

"Ugh." Leah said.

"I really think we should, Lee." Seth said.

Leah threw her hands in the air. "Of course you do!"

I could go on. I could tell you the whole long argument that followed this, complete with shouting, tantrums, and major flirting. But I really don't feel like it. I just found the whole thing tiring. Plus, I don't completely remember.

I will tell you this though: Cocoa and Heath are part of the family.

Embry's POV

Cathryn was being released from the hospital. She was going to be okay. And yes, I had known this for the past couple of weeks, but this made certain. There was just something about Cat lying in a hospital bed with a needle in her wrist and a gown that tightened my chest up. And something about the way she looked now-red cross t-shirt, soffee shorts-that relaxed it.

"I can't believe I'm finally getting out of here." Cathryn breathed.

"Its only been a couple of weeks." Mark reminded her.

"Yeah." Cathryn responded. "A couple of weeks since I've seen the sun! Do you know how horrible that is?"

Mark shook his head in mock sorrow. "You're not even out yet and already you are annoying me. That has to be a record."

"Come on!" Cathryn wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling sunnily. "You know you love me."

"Eh." He shrugged indifferently.

"Fine!" She said, pulling away. "I have Embry."

She walked over to me. I scooped her up bridal-style and carried her down the rest of the way, to the main office. "We're here to check out." I said to whoever the secretary was. I look. My eyes were on the girl in my arms.

She was going to be okay. Have I mentioned that already? I kept having to repeat it to myself, sure that it was too good to be true. I had been positive that her life was over. That both of ours were.

"Hey, Kay." Cathryn said to the secretary. How had they gotten to a first name basis? "Tell Mandy I'll miss her."

The secretary smiled. "Of course." She said. "We'll miss you. Have fun with your freedom!"

"Trust me, I don't need to be reminded." Cathryn assured her.

The secretary laughed.

As soon as we were outside, Cathryn wriggled out of my arms and ran out into the parking lot. "Sky!" She shrieked, spinning giddily and spreading her arms wide. "Embry, I can see the sky!"

I ignored that. She was too slaphappy. "Be careful!" I cautioned. "You're supposed to take it easy. And getting run over by a car isn't the best thing-"

Cathryn stopped spinning. "Kill joy!" She yelled at me.

Mark chuckled, but shifted uncomfortably. "Embry," He muttered, his voice too low for the rest of their family to hear.

"Yeah?" I asked in the same voice.

"I know the two of you have been seeing each other." He told me.

I turned to him. Cathryn was closer to her step brother than she was to anybody else in the family. Their approval I didn't care too much about. But Mark's mattered. "You do?"

"Yeah." He paused, gathering his bearings. "You really care about her, don't you?"

Ha. Understatement of the year.

Mark followed my gaze, which was, as usual, on Cathryn. She was now-and I kid you not-hugging a complete stranger.

"Yeah." I said softly. "I really do."

He nodded slowly. "Okay." He said uncertainly. "But if you ever hurt her, I'll murder you. Size doesn't matter when the little guy's the one with the knife."

I ignored the threat part. "I would never do that." I told him sincerely.


	11. Chapter 11

Cathryn's POV

"It's too soon. For both of you." Embry said, his eyes boring deep into mine even though he was driving and they should have been on the road.

"Bella was younger than that when she saw Charlie," I reminded him, my tone bored. We must have had this conversation a million times over the past couple of days. "And Cocoa's already seen me."

She had, too. While Embry was on patrol. I didn't really remember, as it had been in the dead of night and I'd been half asleep at the time. I was grumpy, she was less-than-controlled, and the situation was altogether not fun. Made even less so by that fact that Mark had heard us and come to check up on me, and seen Cocoa. And then, when she found out that I'd burned her clothes-since she had, technically, been living with me, her garments had slowly ended up in my closet. But then she became a rolling-in-dough Cullen, and I figured she didn't need them anymore-she got _really _mad.

"But Bella actually had a _heart."_

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Okay, well, not technically," He backtracked. "But you get my point." He turned into the Cullen's driveway.

"You just don't want your girlfriend betting you out of fifteen bucks." I told him.

"I'll be the one with the extra cash. They're gonna hafta hold her back, I promise you." Embry's eyes tightened as he said this, and he turned back to the road. He didn't want me to see his face. The genuine fear behind the gambling.

"Ugh." I groaned loudly. Stupid overprotective werewolf.

Embry ignored this. "And what about you? You are still feeling crappy, I can tell."

"Am not!" I protested.

Embry ignored this, too. I was beginning to wonder if maybe he wasn't going deaf. "The shock of having a vampire lunge at you could cause a relapse."

"Cocoa doesn't scare me." I snorted. "I don't care if she's the devil itself."

"I still don't know why you want to see her so much." He grumbled. "I thought you hated the girl."

"Because I'm _bored!"_I cried.

I was, too. I didn't care how many books, games, and movies I was given. I wanted to _move. _Bed rest as so not all it was cracked up to be. I actually found myself missing school! It was, admittedly, better when Embry was around, but he did have a job to go to. And he couldn't stay too long anyway, or my folks would get suspicious. It amazed me they hadn't figured it out about us yet. They had caught on to some extent, though. It was impossible not to. Embry wouldn't have freaked like that if he hadn't really loved me, and it hadn't escaped my parent's notice. So we were having to throw them off the scent.

"Your room is toy land." Embry said. "How could you be bored?"

"I just am." I snapped. "Now come on."

We had pulled up to the Cullen's house.

I hopped out of the car.

"Whoa," I swayed dizzily, only avoiding a fall because Embry had circled around and caught me in record time. I kept forgetting how fragile I'd been since the concussion.

Something Embry seemed all too aware of. He smirked and took my hand, flipping it around so that the palm faced me. _Careful. _It read, in permanent marker. Embry had gotten tired of telling me after the second day back. So he'd written it down.

Not that it had helped.

"You're sure you absolutely want to do this?" He asked me in a low voice.

"No!" I snorted. "I just begged and yelled and withheld physical contact for six days straight for the fun of it!"

Embry scowled. "I'm not in the mood." He warned me.

"Do I care?" I asked him.

He didn't answer. He just walked towards the house, keeping my hand to ensure that I'd be close.

He didn't have to knock. As soon as we reached th porch, the door opened. It was Brady. "Come on in!" He said cheerfully.

Embry stepped slowly inside, with me tucked safely into his side. I peered around him and laughed disbelievingly at what I saw. They were all there. All the vampires, all the wolves, lined up in defensive crouches, ready to stop Cocoa if needed. Only Bella and Alice seemed even a little relaxed.

The lady of the hour was at the top of the stairs. Her crimson eyes met mine and rolled, clearly as disgusted and annoyed as I was. I grinned in spite of myself. She may have become a Cullen, but she hadn't changed at all. I was surprised that I had actually missed the intrusive piece of trash.

Embry, instead of relaxing like I had at the sight of her careless composure, tensed. He planted himself more firmly in front of me, pushing me behind him so I could no longer see.

"Embree-ee!" I whined. This was not what I'd had in mind.

His hand trembled in mine.

I should have realized it then. I should have known that he was freaking out _way _more than he let me see. I should have backed off, taken away some of the pressure and stress. I should have known, but, of course, I didn't. I had no clue.

My voice _was _gentler when I spoke again though, so maybe my subconscious did. "See? She's not going to hurt me. She isn't moving."

Embry inclined his head towards the smallest vampire. "Alice?"

Alice waved a hand easily. "Cocoa will be fine. Have a little faith, would you?"

"Thank you!" A musical voice said loudly. "If I was gonna snap, don't you think I'd have done it by now?"

I leaned around Embry again, ignoring his protest. That soprano had been _Cocoa?_

"Cocoa smirked, taking in my shocked expression. "I know, don't you love it? I knew you weren't really paying attention the other day."

"Yeah." I said, agreeing with her for once. I did. It fit her. Now that she was hard and beautiful, she looked even more unapproachable than ever. I was sure she loved that. "This leech thing was totally made for you."

"Mmm, hmm." She took a graceful step down the stairs, her eyes sliding up to Embry. "Actually, I think you'd like it too. Want a bite?"

Diabolical little vampire. _I _may not have known what Embry was feeling, but Cocoa sure did. And she knew just how to piss him off. And this time, it wasn't just his hands that shook. It was his whole body. Jerking, vibrating violently. A lethal snarl ripping its way from his lips, and he leaned forward in the same animal like stance as the others.

I, on the other hand, leaned back. Embry rarely got scary like this in front of me, and when he did, I tried to stay out of his way.

Cocoa laughed. Again, I was shocked at how pretty the sound was, even if it was dripping in malice. "Chill, Em." She said. "Kidding."

"Don't call me that!" Embry snapped. His shaking did not slow.

Suddenly, Jacob stepped forward, out of the line of battle poses. "Dude," He said to Embry, looking worried. "Be careful. You're gonna phase."

"Seriously." Drew agreed. "_You _could hurt her."

Embry, apparently, had not thought of this. He whirled around.

I shouldn't have done it. I know I shouldn't have. It was mean and slimy and cowardly and even cruel, but I didn't know it then. I didn't think about it. It never occurred to me how much damage it would do to Embry if he thought that I was afraid of him. And his eyes were so _wild. _And it wasn't some huge thing, really. It was just a quick step back. A subtle flattening against the wall. But it was enough.

Surprise, then hurt, colored his expression as he took in my fearful one.

We were silent for a second. I realized, too late, what I had done. "Embry-" I took a step forward, reaching out to him.

But he cringed away. "I have to get outta here." He spat through clenched teeth, pushing past me and yanking open the door.

Quite the dramatic exit, if you ask me.

I turned back to the others. "What just happened?" I demanded. It was Jasper that answered me. "He's just…stressed. He wasn't ready for that, I don't think."

"Oh, for the love of God!" Cocoa threw her hands up in the air.

"Agreed!" I called up to her, disgusted with the entire situation. My thoughtlessness, Embry's protectiveness, all of it. To the others, I asked, "Why does he always over react like that?'

"He's not." Seth defended him. "Do you think any of the rest of us are letting our imprints within twenty feet of a vampire right now? After what _just _happened?"

I gaped at the lot of them. "Are you guys serious?" I finally sputtered. It was one little _meeting, _for crying out loud! So stupid!

"Yes, Cat." Jacob sighed. "It's a wolf thing."

And it was. But imprints had 'things' as well. Annoyed with him as I was,, I felt a familiar nagging in my gut. I didn't want to leave it like that, leave him hurting. I rolled my eyes. "I'll go talk to him." And started for the door.

"I wouldn't." Sam told me. "Let him cool off a little."

I briefly consider ignoring the advice-like I did most-and going after him anyway. But this didn't seem like something to be hasty about. Plus, I hadn't seen any of the Cullens in like forever, including Nessie. Who was like my best friend ever. We had some serious catching of to do, and she would hang me outside her house by my toenails if I left this quickly.

Embry's POV

I turned the knob on the door leading into Cathryn's balcony, trying to calm my nerves. I was in the dog house, I knew it. She had been hounding me about seeing Cocoa ever since she'd gotten back from the hospital, and I'd ruined it. She would not be nice.

The door swung open, the moonlight pooling in a long, pale rectangle across the length of Cathryn's bed, illuminating her long frame, rising and falling as she breathed. The second I saw her, nearly all my anxiety faded away, leaving only a steady peace in its place.

"Cat," I said softly, hoping that she didn't stir. If she was asleep, then I could get in the bed with her, and she'd wake up in my arms. And who could get mad at that?

Unfortunately, that did not happen. Cathryn shot up and strided up to me with such speed and certainty that she could not have been in any way lethargic. She stopped when she was directly in front of me and looked up. "Hi." She said loudly, bluntly.

"Hi." I said back, matching her tone.

"Have you gotten over yourself yet?" She asked me.

She didn't sound too mad, actually. Just kind of amused. Of course, that didn't mean that she wasn't. I was going to have to tread carefully.

"Some what." I responded.

"Good!" She said, again, loud and blunt. She turned around and walked back to the bed in that same swift, businesslike manner. "Because now," She proclaimed, throwing herself across the mattress, "Its payback time."

"Dang." I sighed following her. "What do I gotta do?"

She stretched out across the mattress, arching her back and batting her eyelashes. My heart skipped a beat. "You," She took my hand and pulled me down next to her. "Have to sleep with me tonight."

I grinned. "I can handle that." I told her.

She rolled over right next to me, laying her head on my chest and snuggling up close. "All right then."

I wrapped my arms around her, but I still felt a little wary. Bad as it was to feel that way about my girlfriend, I knew that she wasn't that _nice. _She didn't let people off that easily.

So I wasn't too surprised when she spoke again, her voice coated in a sugary sweetness that I didn't trust at all. "And," She said off handedly, "You have to let me go see Cocoa again. Tomorrow. Without you."

The anxiety was back. "Cat," I murmured, stroking her hair and turning my voice to liquid tenor. Two could play the dazzle-game. "Please don't."

I heard her take one shaky breath, reacting to my voice. Then, "I'm going. Whether you like it or not. Seriously, why are you so against this?"

So, so stubborn.

I like to think that I could have kept her from going. That I could have won the argument and kept her right there in her room the next day like usual. But truly I wasn't sure. Either way, I didn't want Cat mad at me. I wanted her happy. And if I looked at it objectively, logically, Cocoa really wasn't that big of a threat to her. I honestly didn't believe she would hurt Cathryn.

At least, not with every one else around.

"Fine." I sighed, admitting defeat.

"Thank you." Cathryn said angelically.

Angelic. _Cathryn._


	12. Chapter 12

I drove my Porsche to the Cullen's with a giddy feeling in my stomach, listening to The Fame Lady Gaga CD the whole way. I was in a good mood. You know that sort of thrill you get when you are sneaking around, doing something wrong but totally fun? I had that. Which was dumb, because Embry had fully given me permission to go. Not that I needed it anyway. He was my boyfriend. No authority over me whatsoever. So I _was_ doing something wrong, but nobody cared. So that should have taken away some of the excitement, but it didn't.

I got there to find Cocoa already outside, on the steps, waiting for me.

"Awww, you missed me." I cooed as I got out of the car. Great way to start things off, I know. By making her angry.

"Don't flatter yourself, wolf girl." Cocoa said snarkily. "I just like being outside."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. Cocoa had never exactly been outdoorsy. "What is this, like, a leach thing?"

"Must be." She shrugged.

I started to step on the porch next to her.

"Don't." She said, leaning away. "Do you _want_ me to kill you? I'm not that strong. Yet."

I contemplated what Embry would have done if he had been around to hear that comment, and thanked God for keeping him in La Push. Then I stepped down and went back to my car, perching on the hood. "You can hear me from here?" I whispered, curious.

"Duh." Cocoa said. She spoke loudly, and I could hear her from the Porsche."I'm immortal now, member? I can do anything."

"I wouldn't say that." I said smoothly. "You can't have me nearer than five away from you."

"Don't piss me off, Cat." Cocoa snapped. "The wolves aren't here to protect you this time. Don't tempt me."

I rolled my eyes, already getting annoyed. "So this is how its gonna be now?" I asked. "Constant death threats?"

"Pretty much." She shrugged.

I bit my lip, deliberating whether or not to ask yet.

"So I take it you can't really be in public for a while?" I asked her. I'd never been one for patience.

"Yeah…" Cocoa said suspiciously. She knew me too well.

"Canitakeurjob?"

"Come again? Even a vampire can't understand you when you talk like that."

I inhaled deeply through my nose. "Can I have your job? At Starbucks? Because Claire and Blaire are getting bigger and I won't be able to-"

"Cat. You're rich." Cocoa said flatly.

"Not as rich as you are now." I pointed out.

Cocoa didn't say anything for a while, just pursed her lips and looked away, her black hair falling over her eyes. She really was beautiful now. In a short chunky-curvy kind of way.

I leaned back on my car and looked up at the sky. The clouds were so thick that it wasn't blue anymore. Gray, sure. Purple in places. But not blue. The wind whistled through my hair, whipping it across my face. I shivered slightly, wishing I could be back in my room, curled up with Embry, watching a movie on my laptop.

But I had to do this. I was flat broke. My parents may not have been, but they really weren't the alowance types, and the Young's were 'taking pity on me' since my concussion. They didn't want me to 'wear myself out' taking care of a few 'unruly little girls'. Right. They just didn't want me falling asleep or something on the job.

Starbucks, on the other hand, wasn't picky of choosy at all about their employers. They couldn't have been, if they hired Cocoa. And, even more surprisingly, kept her. They had absolutely no idea about my accident. And even if they did find out, I kind of doubted they would care. Which was why I needed this job.

"Oh My God!" Cocoa's sharp voice broke my reverie. I sat back up, looking at her. Though she wasn't doing the same to me. She was staring past me, into the depths of nothing, her red eyes alive with horror.

"What is it Cocoa?" I asked, frightened. I'd never seen Cocoa look like that, human or otherwise.

"I'm…I'm…" She shook her head, seemingly unable to go on. Her ample chest rose and fell heavily in exertion from i-don't-know-what.

"What?!" I demanded, this time getting off of the car. "Cocoa, you're scaring me!"

She ignored me. "Oh, God!" She wailed, leaning over and putting her head in her hands, the picture of despair. "I'm in love!"

I stared at her for a moment, stunned. Then, the shock wearing off, melted back onto my Porsche, giggling uncontrollably.

I know. I am fully aware of how hypocritical that sounds, what with my relationship with Embry and all of that. I don't find my love for him humorless at all. It is a very serious matter, very close of my heart. Or at least the black hole where my heart should be. But you don't know Cocoa. You don't know how incapable she has always seemed of emotion, how disloyal, petty, and cruel she is. She was the last person I ever, _ever _expected to fall in love.

Clearly, she felt the same way. If the look on her face was of any indication.

But it was true, I knew, plain as day. Or night, in the Olypic Peninsula's case, as it was hardly ever bright out. Cocoa was in love, and with somebody she once swore she didn't care a lick for. Lying through her teeth, even if she didn't know it. Heath was hers, always had been. And now, she was his, whether she liked it or not.

And that, my beloved readers, is what was truly hilarious.

Epilogue

Neutral POV

Derek ran for days, days, days without stopping. He didn't have to, you see. He never tired. And as he ran, he thought. He thought of how lucky it was that he escaped the wrath of the wolf packs, the Cullens. The Volturi had lied to him, Amanda and the other newborns, putting them under the impression that they were weak, love struck creatures who gave in, gave up, all to easily. Were it not for the Voluri, he knew, his beloved would still be alive. His mate. His everything was gone.

And he wanted his revenge.

He ran south, straight into the south tip of Argentina. There, he was forced to stop for a quick hunt. Had he been paying more attention, he would have known that he was huting in territory already taken.

Territory taken by a few female creatures that smelled remarkably like that half-vampire-half human child he had taken before.

Taken by sisters whose father that they were so devoted to had been recently destroyed, tortured ripped and burned, by the very same people whom Derek was angry with. And only for trying to create something for himself, trying to gain power, something the Volturi was all too guilty of doing.

And they too, wanted revenge.

**Hey everybody! Okay, so this is the end, but I have a third book to this one-and a fourth but that one won't be posted until I'm done with the third- called War of the Wolves. So READ IT AND PLEAE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVEIW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And read Waking up-the 1rst one in the series- and Just a Memory, if you like Quil and Claire.**

**Thank you kind peoples.**


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